Context Assessment for Mixed Farming Systems in Malawi
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, May 2023
- Food Systems
Reports and Tools
Key recommendations in this assessment include training smallholder farmers about the benefits of adopting sustainable intensification technologies; establishing demonstration plots; and improving farmer access to inputs, support services, and markets.
The Continental Nutrition Accountability Scorecard: A Call for Better Advocacy and Accountability for Nutrition Investments in Africa
African Union, February 2019
- Knowledge Management
Reports and Tools
Recommendations to tackle malnutrition in all its forms include increasing budgetary allocations for multi-sectoral nutrition plans, enforcing compliance with mandatory food fortification legislation, increasing women’s and girls’ empowerment, and ensuring timely collection of high-quality data.
Contributing Factors to the Looming Food Crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa: Opportunities for Policy Insight
Ouko, Kevin Okoth, Modock Oketch Odiwuor. Cogent Social Sciences, February 2023
- Nutrition in Humanitarian Contexts
Research Articles
Addressing food crises caused by climate change, COVID-19, and the war between Russia and Ukraine requires providing support to those impacted, expanding intra-African food commerce, increasing poverty reduction initiatives and strategic food reserves, and improving the monitoring of weather shocks to anticipate future droughts and their impacts.
Coordination at the Heart of the SUN Movement in Mali: The Role of Multi-Stakeholder and Multi-Sectoral Platforms
Scaling Up Nutrition, March 2023
- Capacity Strengthening
Reports and Tools
This case study identifies the local definition of multi-stakeholder/multi-sectoral platforms and country-level governance arrangements and structures for them. It discusses key achievements and emerging challenges faced by these platforms and how to sustain progress. This report is available in English and French.
Coronavirus puts 14 million people at risk of missing meals in Latin America and the Caribbean
WFP, March 2020
- Nutrition in Humanitarian Contexts
Research Articles
This article describes the specific challenges facing Latin America and the Caribbean in light of COVID-19. The economic downturn could quadruple levels of food insecurity, identifying women, school-aged children and migrants as the most at-risk groups. To respond to these challenges, authors call for increased social protection measures to meet the basic needs of vulnerable groups.
The Cost of Not Breastfeeding: Global Results from a New Tool
Walters, Dylan D., Linh T. H. Phan, Roger Mathisen. Health Policy and Planning, June 2019
- Nutrition and Health Systems
Research Articles
This tool aggregates data to estimate the human and economic costs of not breastfeeding. Data attributed to not breastfeeding include childhood deaths from diarrhea and pneumonia, childhood obesity, maternal breast and ovarian cancers, and type 2 diabetes. Researchers conservatively estimate total global economic losses to be US $341.3 billion (0.70% of global gross national income) per year due to cognitive losses, health system treatment costs, and future lost earnings.
Counseling in Growth Monitoring and Promotion: A Rapid Desk Review and Learning Agenda
USAID Advancing Nutrition, September 2023
- Nutrition and Health Systems
Reports and Tools
The learning agenda informs research and learning investments that will guide growth monitoring and promotion programming and policies globally.
Counseling Is a Relationship Not Just a Skill: Re-Conceptualizing Health Behavior Change Communication by India’s Accredited Social Health Activists
Ved, Rajani, Kerry Scott, Global Health: Science and Practice, October 2020
- Social and Behavior Change and Gender
Research Articles
The ability of accredited social health activists to improve health outcomes depends on their relationships with families and the support from the health system. Training to improve interpersonal communication and develop strong relationships with community members will improve their efficacy as health behavior change communicators.
Counselling to Improve Maternal Nutrition: Considerations for Programming with Quality, Equity and Scale: A Technical Brief
UNICEF, January 2022
- Nutrition and Health Systems
Reports and Tools
This brief outlines approaches to improve the enabling environment for maternal nutrition counseling. Authors review key considerations for the design of counseling services and strategies to strengthen service delivery platforms and build health worker capacity. They also explore actions to improve women’s access to dietary supplements and nutritious and affordable diets, strategies for delivering counseling services in humanitarian contexts, and approaches to monitoring counseling services. Countries should invest in research to build evidence of how to strengthen the coverage, quality, and equity of counseling in different settings.
Counting the True Cost: How Understanding the Real Cost of Food Can Improve Nutrition for All
Global Alliance for the Future of Food, December 2021
- Food Systems
Events
Food systems approaches such as True Cost and Value Accounting provide holistic assessments of the consequences and benefits of different food and nutrition interventions and evidence to improve nutrition strategies and policies. This webinar was a Nutrition for Growth Summit Side Event.
Countries' Experiences Scaling Up National Breastfeeding, Protection, Promotion and Support Programmes: Comparative Case Studies Analysis
Hernández-Cordero, Sonia, Rafael Pérez-Escamilla, Paul Zambrano, et al. Maternal & Child Nutrition, April 2022
- Nutrition and Health Systems
Research Articles
Implementation science frameworks help identify key drivers for the scale- up of breastfeeding protection, promotion, and support policies and programs. Advocacy, multi-sectoral political will, financing, monitoring and evaluation, and coordination are key for enabling environments, as is improving maternity protection and tightening regulation and enforcement of the Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes.
Country Profiles Aim to Advance Nurturing Care for Improved Early Childhood Development
USAID Advancing Nutrition, September 2020–October 2021
- Early Childhood Development
Reports and Tools
Country profiles present country-level secondary data, policies, and programs focused on improving nutrition and early childhood development outcomes through the provision of nurturing care.
COVID Vaccines and Breastfeeding: What the Data Say
Nature, June 2021
- Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
Reports and Tools
Early research indicates that vaccines do not pass through breast milk—but antibodies do.
COVID-19 & Global Food Security: 2 Years Later
International Food Policy Research Institute, March 2022
- Knowledge Management
Reports and Tools
The report examines the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on poverty, food security, nutrition, and health globally. It presents key lessons on food security and food system resilience and assesses policy responses to the crisis. Authors consider how the pandemic experience can inform recovery and longer-term efforts to build more resilient food systems.
COVID-19 & Nutrition: Crisis and Opportunity
Harvard Center for International Development, February 2021
Reports and Tools
As incomes have declined during the pandemic, families cannot afford nutritious foods while producers and sellers struggle to stay afloat. Health systems are overwhelmed, families are reluctant to seek healthcare, and efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19 are decreasing coverage of other life-saving care. USAID Chief Nutritionist Shawn Baker shares data on the impacts of COVID-19 on nutrition as well as insights about how USAID and partners are using data to adapt programming and ensure more effective, coordinated responses to this crisis. This is a podcast.
COVID-19 and Early Childhood Development in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
Early Childhood Development Action Network, December 2021
- Early Childhood Development
Reports and Tools
Authors describe the nature and scope of existing early childhood development (ECD) evidence related to nurturing care components for young children, including health, nutrition, child protection, opportunities for learning, and responsive caregiving. The Early Childhood Development Action Network is launching a COVID-19 and ECD Research Hub to consolidate original research on the pandemic’s effect on young children and families.
The COVID-19 Infant Feeding Research Interest Group and Working Group Online
The COVID-19 Infant Feeding Research Interest Group and Working Group, n.d.
Reports and Tools
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.
COVID-19, Maternal and Child Health, Nutrition – What Does the Science Tell Us? A Repository
Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health, June 2020
- Nutrition in Humanitarian Contexts
- Knowledge Management
Reports and Tools
This regularly updated collection of peer-reviewed journal articles on COVID-19 and maternal and child health and nutrition summarizes current evidence. The collection includes syntheses of key points from recently published articles, as well as observations made by the curators.
COVID-19 Nutrition Resources
USAID Advancing Nutrition, August 2020
- Food Systems
- Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
Reports and Tools
These resources focus on multi-sectoral nutrition programming in the context of COVID-19. Research and reports provide guidance about nutrition in humanitarian contexts, monitoring, evaluation and learning, safe breastfeeding practices for COVID-19 positive women, social and behavior change for nutrition in context of COVID-19, and food security.
COVID-19, Nutrition, and Gender: An Evidence-Informed Approach to Gender-Responsive Policies and Programs
Kalbarczyk, Anna, Noora-Lisa Aberman, Bregje S.M. van Asperen, et al. Social Science & Medicine, November 2022
- Social and Behavior Change and Gender
Research Articles
Analyzing the impacts of COVID-19 on women and girls points to underlying gender inequities exacerbating health and nutrition outcomes in a crisis. It is essential to identify and advocate for more comprehensive upstream policies and programs to address such inequities.
COVID-19 Pandemic and Mitigation Strategies: Implications for Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition
Akseer, Nadia, Goutham Kandru, Emily C Keats, et al. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, June 2020
- Food Systems
Research Articles
COVID-19 has created profound challenges for maternal and child nutrition. This review urges governments, donors, and others to rely on data for decision-making as they prioritize investments to strengthen food supply chains, respond to acute food shortages, improve access to health care, and provide social safety net programs for the most vulnerable.
Covid-19 Technical Support: Guidance and Tools
UNICEF, Global Technical Assistance Mechanism
- Nutrition in Humanitarian Contexts
- Nutrition and Health Systems
Reports and Tools
UNICEF, the Global Nutrition Cluster, and GTAM have put together technical guidance and tools to help address the effects of COVID-19 on nutrition programming. They are also producing a series of nutrition guidance briefs to help programmers respond to and mitigate the impacts of COVID-19. The first three briefs cover Prevention and Management of Wasting, Nutrition for UNICEF, the Global Nutrition Cluster, and GTAM have put together technical guidance and tools to help address the effects of COVID-19 on nutrition programming. They are also producing a series of nutrition guidance briefs to help programmers respond to and mitigate the impacts of COVID-19. The first three briefs cover Prevention and Management of Wasting, Nutrition for Infants and Young Children, and Nutrition Information Systems.The briefs outline priority actions, recommend adaptations, and outstanding evidence gaps for each topic area, providing practitioners with the most up-to-date nutrition evidence to complement more general COVID-19 response guidance.
COVID-19 and the Crisis in Food Systems: Symptoms, Causes, and Potential Solutions
International Panel on Sustainable Food Systems, April 2020
- Food Systems
Reports and Tools
The COVID-19 pandemic has provided unexpected insights into the vulnerabilities and strengths of food systems globally. In this communiqué, authors highlight three key vulnerabilities that COVID-19 exposed at the global level and propose four recommendations for a way forward: taking immediate action to protect the most vulnerable, building resilient agro-ecological food systems, rebalancing economic power for the public good, and reforming international food systems governance.
COVID-19 Videos
Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health, July 2020
- Knowledge Management
Reports and Tools
These brief videos demonstrate how women with COVID-19 can safely breastfeed. Videos are available in Spanish, English, French, Russian, Chinese, and Arabic.