TYPE Review PUBLISHED 06 July 2023 DOI 10.3389/fnut.2023.1166495 OPEN ACCESS EDITED BY Charoula Konstantia Nikolaou, University of Greenwich, United Kingdom REVIEWED BY Isabelle Baltenweck, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Kenya Sarah McKune, University of Florida, United States *CORRESPONDENCE Josphat Muema josphat.muema@wsu.edu RECEIVED 15 February 2023 ACCEPTED 19 June 2023 PUBLISHED 06 July 2023 CITATION Muema J, Mutono N, Kisaka S, Ogoti B, Oyugi J, Bukania Z, Daniel T, Njuguna J, Kimani I, Makori A, Omulo S, Boyd E, Osman AM, Gwenaelle L, Jost C and Thumbi SM (2023) The impact of livestock interventions on nutritional outcomes of children younger than 5 years old and women in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Front. Nutr. 10:1166495. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1166495 COPYRIGHT © 2023 Muema, Mutono, Kisaka, Ogoti, Oyugi, Bukania, Daniel, Njuguna, Kimani, Makori, Omulo, Boyd, Osman, Gwenaelle, Jost and Thumbi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. The impact of livestock interventions on nutritional outcomes of children younger than 5 years old and women in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis Josphat Muema 1,2,3 *, Nyamai Mutono 2,3,4 , Stevens Kisaka 1,4 , Brian Ogoti 1,4 , Julius Oyugi 1 , Zipporah Bukania 5 , Tewoldeberhan Daniel 6 , Joseph Njuguna 7 , Irene Kimani 7 , Anita Makori 2,4 , Sylvia Omulo 1,2,3,8 , Erin Boyd 9 , Abdal Monium Osman 10 , Luc Gwenaelle 10 , Christine Jost 9,11 and SM Thumbi 1,3,4,8,12,13 1 Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya, 2 Washington State University Global Health Program–Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya, 3 Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Animal Health, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, United States, 4 Center for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya, 5 Centre for Public Health Research, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya, 6 United Nations Children’s Fund, Nairobi, Kenya, 7 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Nairobi, Kenya, 8 Paul G. Allen School for Global Health, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, United States, 9 United States Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, Washington, DC, United States, 10 Emergency and Resilience Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy, 11 Global Health Support Initiative III, Social Solutions International, Washington, DC, United States, 12 South African Center for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis, Stellenbosch, South Africa, 13 Institute of Immunology and Infection Research, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom Background: Nutrition-sensitive livestock interventions have the potential to improve the nutrition of communities that are dependent on livestock for their livelihoods by increasing the availability and access to animal-source foods. These interventions can also boost household income, improving purchasing power for other foods, as well as enhance determinants of health. However, there is a lack of synthesized empirical evidence of the impact and effect of livestock interventions on diets and human nutritional status in Africa. Objective: To review evidence of the effectiveness of nutrition-sensitive livestock interventions in improving diets and nutritional status in children younger than 5 years old and in pregnant and lactating women. Methods: Following PRISMA guidelines, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies reporting on the effect of livestock interventions on maternal and child nutrition in Africa. Data were extracted, synthesized, and summarized qualitatively. Key outcomes were presented in summary tables alongside a narrative summary. Estimation of pooled effects was undertaken for experimental studies with nutritional outcomes of consumption of animal-source foods (ASFs) and minimum dietary diversity (MDD). Fixed effects regression models and pooled effect sizes were computed and reported as odds ratios (ORs) together with their 95% confidence intervals (CI). Frontiers in Nutrition 01 frontiersin.org