Vitamin A Deficiency Has Declined in Malawi, But with Evidence of Elevated Vitamin A in Children
Williams, Anne M., Sherry A. Tanumihardjo, Elizabeth C. Rhodes, et al. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, March 2021
Research Articles
While the use of vitamin A-fortified staple foods and biannual high-dose vitamin A supplementation has led to the near elimination of vitamin A deficiency in Malawi, elevated levels of vitamin A among children suggests that interventions may need modification.
The Volume and Monetary Value of Human Milk Produced by the World's Breastfeeding Mothers: Results from a New Tool
Smith, Julie P., Alessandro Iellamo, Tuan T. Nguyen, et al. Frontiers in Public Health, March 2023
- Nutrition and Health Systems
Research Articles
The Mothers’ Milk Tool enumerates the economic risk of not protecting, promoting, and supporting women’s capacity for breastfeeding and encourages countries to consider breastfeeding in food balance sheets and economic production statistics.
Volunteer Community Health and Agriculture Workers Help Reduce Childhood Malnutrition in Tajikistan
Yorick, Roman, Faridun Khudonazarov, Andrew J. Gall, et al. Global Health: Science and Practice, March 2021
Research Articles
Community volunteers specializing in maternal, newborn, and child health, water, sanitation, and hygiene activities, and agriculture are an effective workforce to improve individual knowledge, attitudes, and practices that result in better nutrition and improve the dietary diversity of women and children.
WASH, Nutrition and Child Growth: Webinar Series for Implementing Partners
PRO-WASH, WASHPaLS and the Clean, Fed, and Nurtured Coalition, April-May 2020
- Early Childhood Development
- Food Systems
- Nutrition and Health Systems
Events
This series of three webinars focuses on the growing body of evidence that persistent exposure to fecal matter causes delays in infant and young child growth and that interventions must go beyond water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) to prevent infection. Speakers provide information on pathways of infection and recommend interventions and safe feeding practices, including covering food with fly screens, washing hands before preparing food, handling livestock safely, and feeding children with a utensil rather than by hand.
Wasting: A Growing Threat to Child Survival
USAID Advancing Nutrition, August 2023
- Knowledge Management
Reports and Tools
Resources featured in this interactive web page include a framework to address persistent wasting, small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplement program implementation, blanket supplementary feeding, treating moderate wasting with local foods, providing training for health workers, and strengthening wasting management and the ready-to-use therapeutic food supply chain, among other topics.
We Can All Become Food Heroes
FAO, October 2021
- Knowledge Management
Reports and Tools
Students from six countries made a #FoodHeroes music video to discuss how young people can take action to make agri-food systems more sustainable. Their goal is to encourage youth to be change-makers and advocates for a hunger-free and sustainable world.
Webinar Series in Partnership with the DFC Program: Drivers of Food Choice in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Synthesis of Evidence
ANH Academy, April 2021
Events
Presenters discuss drivers of individual and household food choice in changing food environments; next steps for application and scaling; and prominent issues and questions confronting policy, practice, and research at the nexus of food environments, nutrition, and health. This is a series of webinars.
Weight Gain during Pregnancy in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
Alive & Thrive, March 2022
- Nutrition and Health Systems
Reports and Tools
The report prevents prevalence data and highlights the need to prioritize inadequate weight gain. It presents current data about monitoring and counseling interventions, discusses the impact of maternal balanced energy and protein supplementation on weight gain, and provides recommendations to strengthen interventions.
What Do You Want To Know? FAO’s New Open Data Policy Makes Fact-Finding and Information Sharing Easier
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, March 2020
- Knowledge Management
- Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
Reports and Tools
In January 2020, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) unveiled its open data policy for statistical databases. This article highlights what kinds of information can be found in the databases, including facts on the types of foods consumed globally. For instance, did you know that bananas are the most consumed fruit in the world? The ultimate goal of FAO’s new open data policy is to help governments make informed program, policy, and investment decisions.
What is Child Wasting?
UNICEF, February 2023
- Knowledge Management
Reports and Tools
Authors discuss the scope of child wasting and where it is most common, urge early detection and action, examine the importance of ready-to-use therapeutic food, and outline UNICEF priorities.
What it Takes to Bounce Back from Severe Malnutrition: Albatoul’s Story
UNICEF USA, June 2023
- Knowledge Management
Research Articles
Aid workers reported increases in the number of women seeking care and treatment for their malnourished children and in ready-to-use therapeutic food refill requests. While they urge mothers to stick to a schedule during treatment and to bring their children back for follow-up to ensure a full recovery, they are fearful that critical supplies could be cut off.
What’s the Cost of Evaluations and Other Surveys?
Data for Impact, April 2019
- Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
Reports and Tools
Data for Impact helps countries improve their program design, policies, and overall health outcomes through operationalizing the power of data. In this accessible two-pager, Data for Impact provides program implementers with detailed cost and timeline considerations for incorporating evaluations and surveys into program design.
What’s Next After the “Implementation” COP? Catalyzing Action at the Intersection of Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Systems
Agrilinks, December 2022
- Food Systems
Events
Speakers discuss the food security, nutrition, and water issues highlighted at the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference; share examples of how USAID and partners are driving inclusive climate action in agriculture and food systems; and discuss how to support countries that are implementing climate commitments. This webinar includes a slide deck.
When Separation is Not the Answer: Breastfeeding Mothers and Infants Affected by COVID‐19
Tomori, Cecília, Karleen Gribble, Aunchalee E.L. Palmquist, et al. Maternal and Child Nutrition, May 2020
- Social and Behavior Change and Gender
Research Articles
Although the World Health Organization has provided comprehensive guidance that promotes continued breastfeeding during COVID-19, this article argues countries that have imposed separation and discouraged or prohibited breastfeeding or provision of expressed breastmilk fail to acknowledge the health and psychological impacts of separation.
This article argues that countries have unduly imposed separation between mothers and breastfeeding children, citing the discouragement of breastfeeding or the provision of expressed breastmilk as a failure to acknowledge the health and psychological impacts of separation.
WHO Antenatal Care Recommendations for a Positive Pregnancy Experience: Nutritional Interventions Update: Multiple Micronutrient Supplements during Pregnancy
World Health Organization, 2020
- Nutrition and Health Systems
Reports and Tools
This guideline includes updated recommendations include multiple micronutrient supplements and vitamin D supplements during pregnancy.
WHO Calls for Accelerated Action to Reduce Anaemia
World Health Organization, May 2023
- Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
Reports and Tools
The World Health Organization anemia framework consolidates evidence, identifies ways to address the direct causes, risk factors, and broad social inequities that are fundamental drivers of anemia, and identifies key action areas for various actors to improve coverage and uptake of interventions.
WHO Guideline on the Prevention and Management of Wasting and Nutritional Oedema (Acute Malnutrition)
Global Nutrition Cluster Technical Alliance, July 2023
- Nutrition and Health Systems
Events
Speakers discuss new recommendations for the management of infants at risk of poor growth and development and children with wasting and nutritional edema. This is a webinar. It is available in English, French, and Spanish. An audio recording available in Arabic.
WHO Guidelines on Parenting Interventions to Prevent Maltreatment and Enhance Parent–Child Relationships with Children Aged 0–17 Years
World Health Organization, February 2023
- Early Childhood Development
Reports and Tools
These guidelines provide recommendations to reduce child maltreatment and harsh parenting, enhance the parent–child relationship, and prevent poor mental health among parents and emotional and behavioral problems among children. It shares recommended training packages and other resources.
WHO Recommendations on Maternal and Newborn Care for a Positive Postnatal Experience
World Health Organization, March 2022
- Early Childhood Development
Reports and Tools
Recommendations focus on improving the quality of essential, routine postnatal care for women and newborns receiving facility- or community-based care in any resource setting. This report includes accompanying materials.
WHO's Science in 5: Disability and Health Inequity
World Health Organization, February 2023
- Knowledge Management
Reports and Tools
Persons with disabilities (PWDs) die earlier than their nondisabled counterparts; are at twice the risk of suffering from many health conditions; cannot always make their own health care choices; and face stigma and discrimination when seeking healthcare, education, and employment opportunities. To address health inequities, governments and health sector partners must include PWDs and their representative organizations in health program design and implementation. Access the interview as a video or an audio transcript.
Why Are Child Feeding Practices So Tough to Change?
Alive & Thrive Inspire, May 2020
- Early Childhood Development
- Social and Behavior Change and Gender
Reports and Tools
While WHO’s Guiding Principles for Complementary Feeding of the Breastfed Child still largely influences the design and implementation of nutrition programs for complementary feeding, implementers—such as caregivers—often face difficulties applying these guidelines to local contexts. This blog discusses the challenges caregivers may face when using complementary feeding methods in their day-to-day lives, including the local food environment, picky eaters, and parenting and feeding styles, among others. Alive & Thrive Inspire invites readers to engage in the conversation surrounding what tools and approaches would be useful for overcoming these challenges.
Why Tackling Malnutrition Matters for Women's Empowerment
Global Nutrition Report, March 2021
Reports and Tools
While gender equality and women’s empowerment are associated with improved child nutrition, early childhood nutrition also contributes to strong and healthy women. Interventions such as supplying pregnant women with prenatal vitamins can make a significant difference to their financial security and economic empowerment. A growing number of countries are adopting feminist foreign policy agendas and COVID-19 response plans.
Why We Need to Focus on Quality Care for Women and Newborns
WHO, May 2021
Reports and Tools
The Network for Improving Quality Care for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health provides a platform for collaboration and learning across programs and countries. This report outlines steps to cement and expand gains by aligning strategic investments, increasing domestic resources to strengthen health systems, strengthening and scaling workforce competencies for quality care, improving data and health information systems, and ensuring involvement of communities for accountability, among others.
Within-Person Variation in Nutrient Intakes across Populations and Settings: Implications for the Use of External Estimates in Modeling Usual Nutrient Intake Distributions
French, Caitlin D., Joanne E Arsenault, Charles D Arnold, et al. Advances in Nutrition, October 2020
- Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
Research Articles
Using external estimates of within- and between-person variation in nutrient intakes in lieu of collecting multiple days of dietary intake data causes a high degree of uncertainty in resulting models of usual nutrient intake distributions. Single-day dietary studies should complete sensitivity analyses to determine the robustness of prevalence estimates to changes in the variance ratio.