Measuring Country Progress – Introducing Early Childhood Development Country Profiles
Early Childhood Development Action Network, February 2020
- Early Childhood Development
- Nutrition and Health Systems
Events
The Countdown to 2030 for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health aims to strengthen measurement of progress to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals with a focus on “intervention coverage and inequality.” In this webinar, presenters discussed country profiles of nurturing care indicators that can help measure progress in nurturing care (health, nutrition, responsive care, early learning, and security and safety) and its enabling environment. The profiles feature 138 low- and middle-income countries that have available data.
Measuring Coverage of Infant and Young Child Feeding Counselling Interventions: A Framework and Empirical Considerations for Survey Question Design
Choufani, Jowel, Sunny S. Kim, Phuong Hong Nguyen, et al. Maternal & Child Nutrition, April 2020
- Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
Research Articles
Infant and young child feeding counselling interventions are common, but data to track coverage of these activities is limited and inconsistent. Authors introduce a framework for designing surveys to measure counselling coverage and stress that surveys must include questions about timing, place, and frequency of contact, target behavior, message content, type of service provider, and mode of intervention. Triangulating data with local administrative data is also recommended.
Measuring Dietary Diversity: Evaluating a Novel Cell Phone Method to Extend the Reference Period without Increasing the Cognitive Burden on Respondents in Ethiopia
Assefa, Thomas W., Ellen McCullough, Tamara McGavock, AgEcon Search, May 2022
- Food Systems
Reports and Tools
Collecting dietary diversity data through high-frequency phone call surveys rather than through a one-time, in-person survey produced a lower household dietary diversity score but a higher women’s dietary diversity score, suggesting that the recall period impacts overreporting and underreporting food consumption.
Measuring Food Insecurity in the Era of COVID-19: Practical Insights from Data Collection Activities in Four Global Contexts
Data for Nutrition and Agriculture-Nutrition Communities of Practice, May 2020
- Food Systems
- Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
Events
Panelists in this webinar shared how they selected and/or modified experience-based food security metrics for inclusion in household assessments carried out through mobile phones or online platforms. The assessments took place in India, Nepal, the U.S., and on a global level and covered mobile surveying, program monitoring by community health workers, and Mobile Vulnerability Analysis & Mapping Program metrics.
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
Luo, Hanqi, Sarah J. Zyba, Patrick Webb. Global Food Security, November 2020
Research Articles
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.
Measuring Social and Behavior Change in Nutrition Programs: A Guide for Evaluators
USAID Advancing Nutrition, April 2022
- Social and Behavior Change and Gender
Reports and Tools
This guide supports implementing partners involved in conducting evaluations of social and behavior change activities to improve multi-sectoral nutrition outcomes.
Measuring Social and Behavior Change in Nutrition Programs: A Guide for Evaluators
USAID Advancing Nutrition, August 2023
- Social and Behavior Change and Gender
Reports and Tools
This eight-step guide helps USAID implementing partners and others engaged in evaluating activities that use social and behavior change to improve evaluation quality. The guide is available in English and French.
Measuring What it Takes to Provide Care: A Toolkit for Nutrition Programs and Research
USAID Advancing Nutrition, December 2022
- Social and Behavior Change and Gender
Reports and Tools
This toolkit introduces eight measures of caregiver resources that are relevant to the care of young children and nutrition outcomes. These include mental health, healthy stress levels, perceived physical health, safety and security, equitable gender attitudes, self-efficacy, social support, and time sufficiency.
Measuring What the World Eats: Insights from a New Approach
The Global Diet Quality Project, October 2022
- Food Systems
Reports and Tools
The Global Diet Quality Project helps countries measure dietary adequacy and consumption of foods that protect against, or increase the risk for, noncommunicable diseases.
Measuring What the World Eats: Launch of the Diet Quality Project Data
Global Diet Quality Project, October 2022
- Food Systems
Events
Speakers present dietary quality data from 41 countries and discuss the feasibility of a global monitoring system for diet quality. This webinar includes a slide deck.
Measuring Women's Empowerment: Gender and Time-Use Agency in Benin, Malawi and Nigeria
Eissler, Sarah, Jessica Heckert, Emily Myers, et al. Development and Change, July 2022
- Social and Behavior Change and Gender
Research Articles
Women’s ability to exercise time-use agency was conditional on gendered power dynamics and other barriers within households, which together are related to gender norms. Future research should examine how to measure time-use agency in surveys and should explore patterns of time-use agency among diverse groups and contexts.
Meeting Emerging Nutrition Data Needs in DHS-8 (Blog)
The DHS Program, December 2019
- Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
Reports and Tools
To better understand the current state of nutrition and track nutrition interventions, the Woman’s Questionnaire asks 89 questions related to nutrition counseling, including questions on breastfeeding counseling. Questions also include anthropometry measurement, food and cash assistance, iron supplementation, minimum dietary diversity for women, unhealthy foods for children, growth monitoring, and the Food Insecurity Experience Scale. The Questionnaire will be ready for use in late 2020.
Men's Nutrition Knowledge is Important for Women's and Children's Nutrition in Ethiopia
Ambikapathi, Ramya, Simone Passarelli, Isabel Madzorera, et al. Maternal & Child Nutrition, August 2020
- Social and Behavior Change and Gender
Research Articles
Men's nutrition knowledge has significant, positive, and additive associations with households', children's, and women's dietary diversity. Research exploring how nutrition knowledge is gendered and how to engage men in programming may lead to better nutrition outcomes.
Methods, Tools, and Metrics for Evaluating Market Food Environments in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
USAID Advancing Nutrition, June 2021
- Food Systems
Reports and Tools
A landscape assessment, ranking exercise, and survey informed a priority list of methods, tools, and metrics to evaluate informal and formal market food environments. Authors advocate for a mixed-methods approach to monitoring and evaluating market food environments.
Micronutrient Deficiencies among Preschool-Aged Children and Women of Reproductive Age Worldwide: A Pooled Analysis of Individual-Level Data from Population-Representative Surveys
Stevens, Gretchen A., Ty Beal, Mduduzi N. N. Mbuya, et al. The Lancet Global Health, November 2022
- Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
Research Articles
New estimates of the global prevalence of deficiency in at least one of three micronutrients suggest 56 percent of preschool-aged children and 69 percent of non-pregnant women of reproductive age are affected. Three-quarters of these children live in South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and East Asia and the Pacific while 57 percent of these women live in East Asia and the Pacific and South Asia.
Micronutrient Fortification of Commercially Available Biscuits Is Predicted to Have Minimal Impact on Prevalence of Inadequate Micronutrient Intakes: Modeling of National Dietary Data from Cameroon
Haile, Demewoz, Hanqi Luo, Stephen A. Vosti, et al. Current Developments in Nutrition, August 2020
- Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
Research Articles
Biscuit fortification is uncommon and unlikely to reduce dietary inadequacy of studied micronutrients in the absence of large-scale food fortification programs. As voluntary fortification becomes increasingly common, modeling studies could guide efforts to ensure that fortified products align with public health goals.
Micronutrient Forum 5th Global Conference: CONNECTED 2020
Micronutrient Forum, November 2020
Reports and Tools
Recently made available to the public at no cost, conference research tracks explore Micronutrient Biology and Status Assessment, Efficacy and Safety of Micronutrient Interventions, Program Effectiveness, Designing an Enabling Environment for Micronutrients, and Food Systems. Slideshows and other written materials accompany recorded presentations. Although access to conference materials is free, registration is required.
Micronutrient Powders for Infants and Young Children
Global Health: Science and Practice, May 2021
Reports and Tools
Food fortification is a highly effective strategy to address micronutrient deficiencies, provided that suitable food products are available and that cost, taste, and appearance are not affected. Conversely, micronutrient powder programs require robust commodity logistics and behavior change efforts to support uptake and adherence, and it is less clear what they have contributed to improving mortality, morbidity, and developmental outcomes at scale.
Micronutrient Resilience and Climate Change: Nutrition for Resilience White Paper #1
Micronutrient Forum, November 2022
- Nutrition in Humanitarian Contexts
Reports and Tools
Improving micronutrient resilience requires promoting context-specific, sustainable, and diverse diets through food production; advancing large-scale food fortification; investing in developing climate-resilient and nutritious key crops; and promoting connections to markets and trade. Ensuring access to micronutrient-rich foods must be central to social protection systems and humanitarian activities.
Mid-Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) Measurement Usage among Children with Disabilities: A Systematic Review
Hayes, Julia, Michael Quiring, Marko Kerac, et al. Nutrition and Health, June 2023
- Nutrition and Health Systems
Research Articles
Studies reviewed indicate mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) is used as part of nutritional assessments on children with disabilities, but measurement methods, references, and cut-offs were inconsistent. Speed, simplicity, and ease of use make MUAC useful for implementers. However, further research is needed to understand how well it identifies malnutrition in nutritionally high-risk children compared with other measures.
Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women: A Guide to Measurement
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FHI360, 2016
- Food Systems
Reports and Tools
Practitioners can use the Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women indicator as a proxy for micronutrient adequacy for women of reproductive age. The guide provides a new tool for assessment, target-setting, and advocacy.
Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women: An Updated Guide to Measurement: From Collection to Action
FAO, 2021
Reports and Tools
Authors discuss high quality methodologies to collect, analyze, interpret, and present data on women’s dietary diversity for use in research, impact assessment, and large-scale health and nutrition surveys. Discussions about, and appropriate application of, data to inform policy and programming decisions as well as monitoring and evaluation of nutrition outcomes at global, regional, and country levels is encouraged.
Misalignment of Global COVID-19 Breastfeeding and Newborn Care Guidelines with World Health Organization Recommendations
Vu Hoang, Duong, Jennifer Cashin, Karleen Gribble, et al. BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health, December 2020
Research Articles
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.
Mitigating Impacts of Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine on Global Food Security & Nutrition
Feed the Future, June 2022
- Knowledge Management
Reports and Tools
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is contributing to rising food, fuel, and fertilizer prices around the world, which are particularly impactful for communities already experiencing increased poverty, hunger, and malnutrition due to COVID-19, climate change, and protracted conflict.