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.
Strengthening Breastfeeding Counseling Competencies: The Design of a Facility-Based Mentorship Program in Kenya
Publication Date:
Nutrition and Health SystemsBreastfeeding
The Kenya Ministry of Health Division of Family Health, Wellness, and Nutrition; implementing partners, and USAID Advancing Nutrition designed and are currently evaluating a breastfeeding counseling mentorship program’s feasibility to strengthen health worker breastfeeding counseling competencies in Kenya. The brief is available in English, French, and Spanish.
This resource collection supports governments, USAID, and nutrition partners in their efforts to strengthen multi-sectoral nutrition governance in their countries of operation. Featured resources focus on leadership, planning and budgeting, operational capacity, coordination and communication, accountability, and knowledge management.
Desk Review of Food Systems Approaches to Support Wasting Reduction
Publication Date:
Nutrition and Health SystemsEmergency NutritionFood SecurityFood SystemsGenderMicronutrient InterventionsNutrition Sensitive AgricultureWastingWater, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)
Current evidence suggests that water, sanitation, and hygiene; nutrition-sensitive agriculture; and large-scale food fortification interventions may help reduce wasting. Authors summarize implementation considerations and recommend areas for further research based on evidence gaps.
Desk Review on Health Systems Approaches to Support Wasting Reduction
Publication Date:
Nutrition and Health SystemsAnemiaBreastfeedingComplementary FeedingFood SafetyFood SecurityInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Maternal NutritionMicronutrient InterventionsWastingWater, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)
The review presents evidence for the effectiveness of health system approaches and discusses implementation considerations.
Institutionalizing the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative: Integrating the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding into Standards of Clinical Care
Publication Date:
Nutrition and Health SystemsBreastfeeding
This interactive webpage shares country experiences in expanding the coverage and sustainability of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding.
Women’s Diets Learning Agenda: Key Learning and Future Directions
Publication Date:
Monitoring, Evaluation, and LearningAdolescent NutritionBreastfeedingGenderMaternal NutritionNutrition Assessment, Counseling, and Support (NACS)
The report summarizes lessons learned in the areas of improving women’s diets through market food environments, demand creation, family diets, counseling and other health service delivery, and policies and policy implementation.
Stunting: Considerations for Use as an Indicator in Nutrition Projects
Publication Date:
Monitoring, Evaluation, and LearningInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Maternal NutritionWasting
The literature review summarizes strengths and limitations of stunting as an indicator of impact. It informed the development of recommended approaches and indicators to measure the results of nutrition programs.
Nutrition Programs Adapt to COVID-19: Lessons for Future Shocks
Publication Date:
Monitoring, Evaluation, and LearningCOVID-19
USAID-funded projects adapted intervention designs and delivery to respond to COVID-19. The report shares lessons learned and how to apply them to future nutrition work.
Monitoring, Evaluation, and LearningAdolescent NutritionAnemiaBreastfeedingChild NutritionGrowth Monitoring and PromotionInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Maternal NutritionMicronutrient Interventions
This collection of peer-reviewed publications since USAID Advancing Nutrition’s launch in 2018 showcases our work around micronutrient and anemia measurement, breastfeeding, and diet quality.
Monitoring, Evaluation, and LearningAnemiaInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Maternal NutritionMicronutrient InterventionsPrivate-Sector Engagement
Authors discuss interventions ranging from increasing dietary diversity, biofortification, food fortification, and supplementation to delayed cord clamping, and the prevention and treatment of malaria and helminths and other parasitic diseases and infections. Practitioners should tailor these interventions to the local context, cause, and affected population groups.
Improving Anemia Assessment in Clinical and Public Health Settings
Publication Date:
Monitoring, Evaluation, and LearningAnemiaMaternal NutritionMicronutrient Interventions
The authors’ propose a framework for anemia assessment that recognizes the overlapping causes of anemia; informs data collection and analysis through population-based surveys; and includes information on diagnostic tests, biomarkers and proposed cutoffs, and the feasibility of collecting different types of data.
Monitoring, Evaluation, and LearningAnemiaBreastfeedingComplementary FeedingInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Maternal NutritionMicronutrient Interventions
Authors share advances in understanding common causes of anemia, their interactions, and the roles of infections and inflammation as causes. They discuss the coincidence between regions with a high prevalence of anemia attributed to iron deficiency, those with endemic infections, and those with widespread genetic conditions affecting red blood cells.
Exploring the Anemia Ecology: A New Approach to an Old Problem
Publication Date:
Monitoring, Evaluation, and LearningAnemiaMicronutrient Interventions
Authors present a framework for using the biology of anemia alongside methods for assessing prevalence and its causes to develop context-specific interventions.
Infant and Young Child Feeding Image Bank (Resource Collection)
Publication Date:
Knowledge ManagementSocial and Behavior Change and GenderBreastfeedingInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Maternal Nutrition
The Infant and Young Child Feeding Image Bank provides more than 900 images to illustrate recommended practices. Practitioners have used the images in more than 70 countries to promote behavior change for improved maternal and child nutrition.
Working Within the Food System: Gender Considerations for Achieving Improved Diets
Publication Date:
Food SystemsFood SystemsGender
Investments should improve women’s roles in agriculture and off-farm livelihoods; provide workplace support to offset risks to household nutrition; ensure opportunities for income generation, decision-making, and control over household income; increase access to high-quality social and behavior change activities; and engage men and boys to address gender norms.
Needs Assessment and Design Methodology to Guide Large-Scale Food Fortification and Broader Programming to Improve Diets: Tools 1 and 2 in the LSFF Methodology Series
These resources describe the purpose and target audience for tools to assess diets, markets, and diet cost and affordability; summarize key steps in the methodology; and provide instructions on how to conduct analyses to design large-scale food fortification programming.