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.
Can We Predict the Burden of Acute Malnutrition in Crisis-Affected Countries? Findings from Somalia and South Sudan
Publication Date:
Nutrition in Humanitarian ContextsWasting
Researchers explored a statistical approach to predict the burden of acute malnutrition as a complement to surveys in Somalia and South Sudan, but the models did not perform well. The predictive approach remains theoretically attractive and deserves further evaluation with larger datasets across multiple settings.
Situational Analysis of Early Childhood Care and Development Services in Ghana
Publication Date:
Early Childhood Development
Study recommendations include strengthening responsive care, early learning, safety and security counseling and support services, and services and support to children with disabilities and their families. Providing tools and processes for routine identification, support, and referral of caregiver mental health issues—and improving workforce competencies—are also critical.
Resource Bank materials help nutrition and disability program managers, government leaders, and donor agency staff design and implement effective nutrition programs for children with disabilities. Information focuses on identifying and managing feeding difficulties, identifying disabilities, supporting children with disabilities and their families, and promoting disability inclusion.
Strengthening Maternal, Infant, and Young Child Nutrition Training and Counseling in Ghana: A Community-Based Approach
Publication Date:
Early Childhood DevelopmentInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Maternal Nutrition
Caregivers prioritized provider counseling, family and community support, and food safety knowledge and practice as important for responsive feeding (RF) and parenting. Providers stressed the need to integrate RF into maternal, infant, and young child nutrition training and counseling, and provide facilities with RF tools and materials.
Performance of the UNICEF/UN Washington Group Tool for Identifying Functional Difficulty in Rural Zimbabwean Children
Publication Date:
Early Childhood DevelopmentFood Security
The Washington Group Child Functioning Module (WGCFM) showed concurrent validity with the Malawi Developmental Assessment Tool (MDAT). For each unit increase in the WGCFM score, children completed 2.6 fewer MDAT items.
Global and Regional Prevalence of Disabilities among Children and Adolescents: Analysis of Findings from Global Health Databases
Publication Date:
Early Childhood Development
Prevalence estimates using functional approach or statistical modeling are comparable and complementary but they require greater alignment of age groups and severity thresholds, especially for children under five.
Feeding, Caregiving Practices, and Developmental Delay among Children Under Five in Lowland Nepal: A Community-Based Cross-Sectional Survey
Publication Date:
Early Childhood DevelopmentBreastfeedingComplementary FeedingInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)
Suboptimal early breastfeeding practices, delayed introduction of complementary foods, inadequate dietary diversity, low animal-source food consumption, and inadequate early stimulation and responsive caregiving are common in Nepal. Younger children from poor households with young mothers are at particular risk for poor feeding and caregiving practices.
Connecting through Crises: Opportunities and Challenges in Strengthening Informal Support Networks
Publication Date:
Capacity StrengtheningFood Systems
The panel discussed research findings and explored how donors, policymakers, and practitioners can strengthen informal support networks to build resilience in communities vulnerable to crises.
Samantha Power Announces USAID Africa Localization Initiative
Publication Date:
Capacity Strengthening
The Africa Localization Initiative will direct 25 percent of USAID’s program budget to local organizations based in sub-Saharan Africa. To ensure more equitable and sustainable development outcomes, communities will lead program design, implementation, or evaluation for at least 50 percent of programming.
USAID is committed to partnerships and encourages local actors from all backgrounds and cultures to exercise their unique capabilities and lead their country’s development.
Supporting Children with Feeding Difficulties and Disabilities in Nutrition Programs: Tools for Action Webinar
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Early Childhood DevelopmentKnowledge Management
USAID Advancing Nutrition launched the Feeding and Disability Resource Bank to assist nutrition and disability program managers with the design & implementation of effective nutrition programs.
Application to Improve Precision: Understanding the anemia ecology
Publication Date:
Food SystemsMonitoring, Evaluation, and LearningNutrition in Humanitarian ContextsAnemia
Anemia remains a critical global health problem that contributes to increased morbidity and mortality, particularly in women of reproductive age and preschool-age children. To address this challenge, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), through its project USAID-Advancing Nutrition, constituted the USAID-Advancing Nutrition Anemia Task Force (ATF).
Building the Future of Girls: Alive & Thrive Interventions for Improved Adolescent Nutrition in Ethiopia
Publication Date:
Nutrition and Health SystemsAdolescent Nutrition
These videos introduce Alive & Thrive’s adolescent nutrition intervention, including interviews with girls, school teachers and administrators, health extension workers, government officials, and project staff. The videos are available in Amharic with English subtitles.
Agriculture in Complex Emergencies: Exploring the Association between Agricultural Programs and Dietary Diversity among Women and Children: A Synthesis of Study Findings from Cameroon and South Sudan
Publication Date:
Nutrition in Humanitarian ContextsImproving Women and Children’s Diets in Emergency ContextsDietsEmergency NutritionFood SecurityMaternal NutritionNutrition Sensitive Agriculture
The United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID's) Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) seeks to improve the impact of emergency-funded agricultural activities on nutritional status, especially that of women and young children.
Agriculture in Complex Emergencies: Exploring the Association between Agricultural Programs and Dietary Diversity among Women and Children in South Sudan: Study Findings
Publication Date:
Nutrition in Humanitarian ContextsDietsEmergency NutritionFood SecurityNutrition Sensitive Agriculture
The United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID's) Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) seeks to improve the impact of emergency-funded agricultural activities on nutritional status, especially that of women and young children.
Agriculture in Complex Emergencies: Exploring the Association between Agricultural Programs and Dietary Diversity among Women and Children in Cameroon: Study Findings
Publication Date:
Nutrition in Humanitarian ContextsImproving Women and Children’s Diets in Emergency ContextsDietsEmergency NutritionFood SecurityMaternal NutritionNutrition Sensitive Agriculture
The United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID's) Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) seeks to improve the impact of emergency-funded agricultural activities on nutritional status, especially that of women and young children.
Social and Behavior Change and GenderBehavior Change for Nutrition
A Social and Behavior Change (SBC) approach is central to achieving many of USAID’s nutrition goals, but what is SBC and how can we tell if we’re doing it well?
Engaging Youth in Food Systems for Improved Nutrition Outcomes
Publication Date:
Adolescent NutritionFood Systems
This concept note proposes categorization of food systems approaches to engage youth, briefly summarizes the state of evidence, and highlights opportunities and knowledge gaps to begin to inform and inspire programming.
Bureau for Resilience and Food Security (RFS) Food Systems Conceptual Framework Guidance Document
Publication Date:
Food SystemsFood Systems
This five-page document provides an overview of the Bureau for Resilience and Food Security's (RFS) conceptual framework.
Explains the conceptual framework’s purpose, components, and suggestions for how it can be used