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.
Recommended Maternal Nutrition Priorities for Uganda: Findings from the Maternal Nutrition Operational Guidance Field Test
Publication Date:
Nutrition and Health SystemsMaternal Nutrition
This report on maternal nutrition priorities in Uganda highlights findings from a field test of Maternal Nutrition Operational Guidance: Program Considerations for Low- and Middle-Income Countries, published by the USAID-funded Maternal and Child Survival Program.
Interventions to Improve Dietary Intake Behaviors among Children and Adolescents
Publication Date:
Adolescent NutritionInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Micronutrient Interventions
The authors explored cultural-ecological factors affecting behavioral interventions to improve diet quality. The results offer insights about facilitators and barriers to uptake of such interventions and highlight implications for planning and monitoring future interventions.
Behavioral Insights into Micronutrient Powder Use for Childhood Anemia in Arequipa, Peru
Publication Date:
Infant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Micronutrient Interventions
Barriers to using micronutrient powder (MNP) include previous experiences with health care providers, inconvenient access to MNP, and the absence of reminders to provide MNP. Providing culturally relevant messaging and encouraging changes to feeding routines can lower barriers. Health care provider training should encourage positive interpersonal interactions when initiating MNP.
A Cluster-Randomized Trial to Test Sharing Histories as a Training Method for Community Health Workers in Peru
Publication Date:
WastingInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)
The Sharing Histories training method, whereby community health workers (CHWs) recount their own childbearing and childrearing experiences, improved CHW effectiveness with literate mothers in reducing stunting. Stunting among children of illiterate mothers may have involved unaddressed determinants of stunting. The abstract is available in Spanish.
Transitioning Nutrition Programming from Humanitarian Aid to Health System Strengthening in Kenya
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Emergency Nutrition
Central government leadership framed by a health system strengthening approach, devolution, and increased county-level government investment has supported the transition from aid to government-led programming. Challenges include reliance on external technical assistance and securing long-term funding. Further evolution to development financing requires a vision and formalized framework.
A Review of the Humanitarian Nutrition Response in North-East Nigeria
Publication Date:
Emergency NutritionInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)
Rapid response to nutrition crises must balance scale-up demands with support for existing systems and capacities. This requires strong coordination to ensure government ownership, prevent duplication of services, improve data quality, and track and forecast supply needs.
Community Health Workers in Humanitarian Settings: Scoping Review
Publication Date:
WastingMicronutrient InterventionsWater, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)
This wide-ranging review finds that community health workers (CHWs) often carry out critical emergency response activities but face security threats and psychological trauma. Community selection of CHWs is crucial for acceptance and high service utilization.
A Model for Improved Estimates of Child Wasting in Yemen: Capturing the Effects of Conflict and Seasonal Variability in Incidence Estimates
Publication Date:
WastingEmergency Nutrition
Estimating expected caseload using a single standard estimate fails to capture variations due to seasonality, disease trends, food insecurity levels, and the instability of a crisis setting. Context-specific modeling indicates that previous calculations significantly underestimate the burden of wasting.
A Review of Nutrition-Related Service Delivery Packages: What They Train Providers to Deliver
Publication Date:
Infant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)
Results of a review by USAID Advancing Nutrition emphasize the importance of promoting responsive caregiving and early learning, and supplementing training to ensure that health workers can tailor counseling to individual breastfeeding challenges, particularly in emergency contexts.
Adolescent Nutrition Mapping Study: A Global Stakeholder Survey of Policies, Research, Interventions and Data Gaps
Publication Date:
Adolescent Nutrition
Gaps include an agreed-upon definition of adolescence, standardized anthropometric definitions of malnutrition, data on current and optimal diets, evidence on effective interventions for adolescents, adolescent engagement in research, inclusion of adolescents within health and nutrition policies, and designated research funding.
A comprehensive primary health care platform should be used to address malnutrition. Priority actions include encouraging primary health care providers to support multi-sectoral action on nutrition, empowering communities and patients to address unhealthy diets, and ensuring delivery of high-quality nutrition interventions.
The Potential Impacts of the COVID-19 Crisis on Maternal and Child Undernutrition in Low and Middle Income Countries
Publication Date:
COVID-19
The pandemic presents opportunities to accelerate introduction and scale-up of multiple micronutrient, balanced energy-protein, and small-quantity lipid nutrient supplements.
Misalignment of Global COVID-19 Breastfeeding and Newborn Care Guidelines with World Health Organization Recommendations
Publication Date:
BreastfeedingCOVID-19Infant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)
Guidance during the pandemic should weigh risks posed by COVID-19 transmission against the protection provided by skin-to-skin contact, early initiation of breastfeeding, continued breastfeeding, and rooming-in. Recommendations against these practices should not be made without compelling evidence.
Breastfeeding Practices after a Counselling Intervention for Factory Workers in Bangladesh
Publication Date:
BreastfeedingInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)
Breastfeeding practices of factory workers in a peer counseling intervention group were significantly better than those in the control group. Factories employing female workers should consider providing skilled community‐based peer counselors to improve infant health outcomes.
Leveraging M&E Systems to Improve SBC Programme Performance
Publication Date:
Nutrition Assessment, Counseling, and Support (NACS)
Presenters discuss how baseline surveys can be used to identify target audiences; give examples of how routine monitoring data can be used to identify programmatic obstacles; provide guidance about selecting social and behavior change indicators; and discuss qualitative approaches to assess program performance. This is a webinar. French subtitles are available.
The COVID-19 Infant Feeding Research Interest Group and Working Group Online
Publication Date:
BreastfeedingCOVID-19Infant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)
These multidisciplinary groups of international experts identify and share what research indicates about safe infant feeding practices during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as pinpointing research needs. Hosted by USAID Advancing Nutrition, the online platform provides recordings of monthly meetings, resource materials, and links to register for meetings and news.
Measuring Malnutrition in All Its Forms: An Update of the Net State of Nutrition Index to Track the Global Burden of Malnutrition at Country Level
Publication Date:
WastingAdolescent NutritionGrowth Monitoring and PromotionInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Maternal NutritionNutrition Assessment, Counseling, and Support (NACS)
Adding female adult overweight and preschooler vitamin A deficiency indicators to the Net State of Nutrition Index captures important dimensions of malnutrition. Including these indicators will help policymakers tailor policies and interventions, track changes in the burden of malnutrition over time, and measure the success of investments and programs.
Introducing a Suite of Low-Burden Diet Quality Indicators That Reflect Healthy Diet Patterns at Population Level
Publication Date:
Growth Monitoring and PromotionInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Maternal NutritionNutrition Assessment, Counseling, and Support (NACS)
Moderate-to-strong associations between food-group scores and 11 global dietary recommendations exist. Food-group consumption data can track progress of countries and populations toward meeting WHO guidance on healthy diets.