The CARE supplementary feeding programmes in refugee and displaced person camps in Thailand were radically restructured in 1984 and 1985. The goal was to emphasize nutrition education and mothers' feeding skills. This article outlines the revised programme's development - the curriculum, the take-home ration, enrolment criteria and screening methods, teacher support, teaching methodologies, mass media, monitoring, and evaluation - and some of the major perceived benefits of this change. Some of the benefits were improvements in mothers' reported nutrition knowledge and practices related to themselves and their young children and great improvements in associated health service coverage (in this case, attendance at under-fives clinics and immunizations). The programme involved the same food costs per participant served at the preceding centre-based feeding programme. However, it had more participants, better attendance, and about a 10% increase in staff. The transition in approaches is viewed as a major step from refugee relief to beginning a developmental and self-reliant process. © 1988 Oxford University Press.

[No Keywords available]

economic aspect education Short Survey health program ethnic or racial aspects normal human nutritional health refugee monitoring mass medium Thailand organization and management human health education war