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.
FIGO Recommendations on Adolescent, Preconception, and Maternal Nutrition: "Think Nutrition First"
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Adolescent Nutrition
This article summarizes recommendations from the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) on nutrition issues for adolescent and young women before, during, and after pregnancy.
Challenges and Opportunities in Measuring Knowledge Management Results and Development Impact (Part 2)
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Knowledge Management
These papers discuss a framework for measuring the impact of organizational learning and adaptive management, the benefits of using a relative return on investment paradigm, knowledge management (KM) solutions as applied to work processes, measuring KM capacities to strengthen health systems, the institutionalization of KM strategies in agricultural research, and the use of critical discourse a
Program Guidance Engaging Family Members in Improving Maternal and Child Nutrition
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Social and Behavior Change and GenderInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Maternal Nutrition
Due to their influence on decision-making, there is a strong case for engaging fathers, grandparents, and other key family members in maternal and child nutrition programs. Their involvement increases awareness of recommended practices and can increase supportive attitudes and behaviors including exclusive breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices.
Counseling Is a Relationship Not Just a Skill: Re-Conceptualizing Health Behavior Change Communication by India’s Accredited Social Health Activists
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Social and Behavior Change and GenderInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)
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.
Bringing Greater Precision to Interactions between Community Health Workers and Households to Improve Maternal and Newborn Health Outcomes in India
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Social and Behavior Change and GenderBreastfeedingInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Maternal Nutrition
Community health worker (CHW) presence, number, and timing of visits, counseling, and behavior change messaging strategies, and focus on specific household members are associated with recommended maternal and newborn care practices, including early initiation of and exclusive breastfeeding.
Core local development policy principles include responding to local priorities, leveraging local strengths and assets, being mindful of and mitigating unintended consequences of engagement, and nurturing local ownership through partnerships based on mutuality.
Decolonizing Global Health: Perspectives from Nurses and Midwives
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Capacity Strengthening
Panelists discuss the history of communities most affected by interventions being left out of priority setting, funding structures, program design, and implementation. They outline steps to dismantle these inequities and ensure that future policy and programmatic work is community-led, responsive, and people-centered. This is a webinar.
An Approach to Building Equitable Global Health Research Collaborations
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Capacity Strengthening
The authors present a model for developing productive, equitable research partnerships between researchers and practitioners from high- and low-income countries. Model elements include mission and goal alignment, meaningful training and mentoring, capacity building, and co-authorship principles.
Transforming Capacity-Strengthening in an Era of Sustainable Development
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Capacity Strengthening
District health managers (DHMs) are charged with turning policies and resources into accessible and high-quality health services, but resource uncertainty and limited decision-making authority limit their ability to do so. Successful capacity strengthening requires understanding individual, organizational, and contextual factors that influence the work of DHMs.
A Review of Leadership and Capacity Gaps in Nutrition-Sensitive Agricultural Policies and Strategies for Selected Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia
In assessing the degree to which agricultural policies, programs, and investments are nutrition-sensitive, authors argue that there is limited capacity to translate policy and program instruments into effective action. This article is behind a paywall.
Research, Development and Capacity Building for Food and Nutrition Security in Sub-Saharan Africa
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Capacity StrengtheningFood Security
Improving food and nutrition security requires broad access to secondary, tertiary, and vocational education and skill development training, and women’s leadership and engagement in training. It also requires commitment to research and development, biotechnology, indigenous knowledge, and information and communication technologies.
Global Nutrition Cluster | Roles and Responsibilities of Nutrition Cluster Partners within the Cluster Approach at Country Level
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Nutrition in Humanitarian Contexts
This graphic provides guidance on partners' roles in needs assessment and analysis, strategic response planning, resource mobilization, implementation and monitoring, operational peer review, and evaluation. It also provides detailed steps for coordination, information management, and preparedness. Available in English and Arabic.
Experiences of the Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition (IMAM) Programme in Nepal: From Pilot to Scale Up
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Nutrition in Humanitarian ContextsWastingEmergency NutritionInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Maternal Nutrition
This program addresses severe wasting in the context of humanitarian crises. Sustainability relies on a government-owned and -managed approach, a strong policy framework, national and devolved governance architecture, commitment and dedicated financing, and services integrated within a well-developed community health system and delivered by skilled government health workers.
Improving Nutritional Status among Urban Poor Children in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Evidence-Informed Delphi-Based Consultation
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Nutrition in Humanitarian ContextsInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)
Little is known about how urbanization influences infant and young child (IYC) feeding practices, and evidence-based interventions to improve IYC health/nutrition among the urban poor are lacking. To maximize effectiveness, future complementary feeding interventions should include an assessment of diet quality and consider nutrition-sensitive factors during development and evaluation.
Fortified Blended Flour Supplements Displace Plain Cereals in Feeding of Young Children
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Nutrition in Humanitarian ContextsBreastfeedingInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)
Lipid-based nutritional supplements and fortified blended flours are widely used to increase nutrient density of children's diets and improve health. Due to their small stomach size and rapid growth velocity, infants need higher nutrient density foods than do other family members.
Nutritional Interventions: Multiple Micronutrient and Vitamin D Supplements during Pregnancy
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Nutrition and Health SystemsMicronutrient InterventionsMaternal Nutrition
This guideline includes updated recommendations include multiple micronutrient and vitamin D supplement during pregnancy. Viewers must request an invitation to watch this webinar but there is no fee to do so.
WHO Antenatal Care Recommendations for a Positive Pregnancy Experience: Nutritional Interventions Update: Multiple Micronutrient Supplements during Pregnancy
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Nutrition and Health SystemsMicronutrient InterventionsMaternal Nutrition
This guideline includes updated recommendations include multiple micronutrient supplements and vitamin D supplements during pregnancy.
Nutrition and Health SystemsWastingAdolescent NutritionInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Micronutrient Interventions
The articles in this South Asia edition focus on integrating nutrition interventions into primary health care to prevent and treat wasting, integrating management of children with acute malnutrition in pediatric inpatient facilities, supporting healthy growth in infants in low-resource settings, integrating screening for acute malnutrition into the vitamin A supplementation campaign in the Rohi
Insights on Exclusive Breastfeeding Norms in Kinshasa: Findings from a Qualitative Study
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Nutrition and Health SystemsBreastfeeding
Focus group discussions with young first-time mothers (FTMs), male partners, mothers, and mothers-in-law to identify norms that influence exclusive breastfeeding found important barriers. For instance, FTMs believed exclusive breastfeeding was uncommon and would result in social sanctions from the community.