USAID Advancing Nutrition develops, curates, packages, and shares multi-sectoral nutrition knowledge to help you stay on top of developments and evidence in global nutrition programming.
Improving Nutrition among Children with Feeding Difficulties and Disabilities: Call to Action for Policymakers
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Feeding and DisabilityWastingBreastfeedingComplementary FeedingEarly Childhood DevelopmentInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)
Feeding difficulties can negatively impact children’s growth and development, as well as the quality of life for themselves and their families. To better understand needs and opportunities in this area, USAID Advancing Nutrition conducted a scoping review of programs supporting nutritional care of children with feeding difficulties and disabilities.
Examining the Association between Anemia and Early Childhood Development in 9 Low- and Middle-Income Countries
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Early Childhood DevelopmentAnemia
Results showed no significant association between anemia and early childhood development (ECD) domains or the overall ECD index, except social-emotional development in Benin and physical development in Maldives.
Small-Quantity Lipid-Based Nutrient Supplement Program Implementation
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Nutrition in Humanitarian ContextsComplementary FeedingEmergency NutritionFood SecurityInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Micronutrient Interventions
This report describes a learning activity to 1) document the factors that promoted and/or hindered successful implementation of small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements (SQ-LNS) programs in highly food insecure contexts and 2) garner perspectives on considerations for scale-up.
The Neglect of Culture in Global Health Research and Practice
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Social and Behavior Change and GenderGender
Reframing research and interventions to ensure that they reflect the structure, roles, and resources of indigenous cultures is critical. Global research and funding institutions should support more culturally grounded research and programs to increase their relevance, effectiveness, and impact.
Enabling Better Complementary Feeding: Guidance and Workbook
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Social and Behavior Change and GenderComplementary FeedingWater, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)
This workbook introduces basic concepts of social and behavior change design; implementation; and monitoring, evaluation, and learning to improve complementary feeding practices.
Behavioral Solutions for Child Feeding Before and After Illness
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Social and Behavior Change and GenderChild NutritionInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)
Behavioral design guided the development of solutions that support families to continue feeding their young children during periods of illness and more food in the two weeks following an illness. Solutions also provide community- and facility-based health workers with resources and approaches to support families.
Behavioral Barriers to Feeding Young Children During and After Illness
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Social and Behavior Change and GenderChild NutritionComplementary Feeding
Behavioral factors can impede optimal complementary feeding—during and after illness. Findings point to how programs can equip community- and facility-based health workers with tools, messages, and other resources to guide and encourage families to feed children appropriately during illness and recovery.
Women's Empowerment, Maternal Depression, and Stress: Evidence from Rural Burkina Faso
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Social and Behavior Change and Gender
Researchers found a significantly negative relationship between the Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index score and maternal stress and depression. Self-efficacy and respect among household members were important drivers of this inverse relationship.
Efficacy of Behavioral Interventions to Improve Maternal Mental Health and Breastfeeding Outcomes: A Systematic Review
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Social and Behavior Change and GenderBreastfeeding
Behavioral interventions had statistically significant positive effects on maternal mental health and breastfeeding and most showed a decrease in self-reported depression and/or anxiety symptoms in parallel with an increase in breastfeeding duration and/or exclusivity.
How India is Moving from an "Ego-Based" to an "Ecosystem-Based" Digital Health System
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Nutrition and Health Systems
The Long Live India Digital Mission is creating a platform for longitudinal electronic health records for India. The system will establish national health identifications, a registry for facilities and providers, and national digital health records to improve patient care and outcomes.
From Evidence to Action: Uniting Around Nutrition in the 1000-Day Window
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Nutrition and Health SystemsBreastfeedingInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)
Improving nutrition security in the first 1,000 days requires long term investment in early childhood development, better integration of nutrition issues in the healthcare system, greater attention to nutrition among donors, and comprehensive implementation of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Increased surveillance of pregnant and nursing people and young children is also critical.
Building High-Quality Health Systems to Improve Nutrition Services for Women and Children: Policy and Implementation Considerations
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Nutrition and Health SystemsChild NutritionInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Maternal Nutrition
High-quality health systems for nutrition require integrated service provision and supplies, performance monitoring, strategic purchasing, and functioning referral services. Critical to achieve this are political leadership and commitment, well-defined quality metrics, quality and timely nutrition data, and a strong accountability system.
Improving Nutrition in the First 1000 Days in the United States: A Federal Perspective
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Nutrition and Health SystemsInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Micronutrient Interventions
Authors provide a high-level summary of the state of nutrition in the first 1,000 days in the United States, discuss opportunities to strengthen federal research and surveillance, advocate for effective communication and dissemination efforts, and identify priorities for further action.
Implementing Two National Responsibilities of the Revised UNICEF/WHO Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative: A Two-Country Case Study
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Nutrition and Health SystemsBreastfeeding
To institutionalize the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative, systematic coordination, effective communication about national policies and plans, performance monitoring, and multi-sectoral advocacy to secure national and local commitment and funding are all important.
Anthropometric Deficits and the Associated Risk of Death by Age and Sex in Children Aged 6–59 Months: A Meta-Analysis
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Monitoring, Evaluation, and LearningNutrition and Health SystemsWasting
Researchers found no age- or gender-specific differences in the risk of mortality associated with child wasting, indicating the need to include all children under five in wasting treatment programs.
Towards Standardised and Valid Anthropometric Indicators of Nutritional Status in Middle Childhood and Adolescence
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Monitoring, Evaluation, and LearningAdolescent NutritionChild Nutrition
Revisiting anthropometric indicators across middle childhood and adolescence will require coordination between the World Health Organization and UNICEF, engagement among national implementers and policy-makers, and partnership with research communities and donors. This article is behind a paywall.
Data Collection and Analysis Tools for Food Security and Nutrition: Towards Enhancing Effective, Inclusive, Evidence-Informed, Decision Making
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Monitoring, Evaluation, and LearningFood Systems
Priorities include securing additional financial investment to fill data gaps, addressing low levels of data literacy and analysis skills among data users, and improving global data governance to allow for broad circulation of relevant information while preserving individual rights.
Monitoring, Evaluation, and LearningAnemiaMicronutrient Interventions
Briefs explore current evidence and practice to understand and address the causes and consequences of anemia. Topics include assessing for anemia in clinical and public health settings, anemia in pregnancy, food-based approaches to address anemia, and coexisting infection and inflammation.