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.
There is insufficient evidence on the cost-effectiveness and sustainability of nutrition-sensitive value chains and crop biofortification on nutritional outcomes. New evaluation frameworks and approaches that acknowledge the social, political, economic, and environmental factors and drivers of malnutrition and poverty are important.
Market Access, Household Dietary Diversity, and Food Security: Evidence from Eastern Africa
Publication Date:
Food SystemsFood Systems
Households located closer to market centers have greater expenditures, consume more diverse diets, and have greater food security than those located farther away. Investing in accessible market development and rural infrastructure to link smallholder farmers to markets is critical to improving household dietary diversity and food security. This article is behind a paywall.
The Micronutrient Fortification Index ranks Nigerian products based on the effectiveness and efficiency of a company’s systems and levels of fortification. Digitizing quality assurance and business processes increases accountability and harnesses the competitive nature of businesses to drive food fortification performance. This article is behind a paywall.
Concentration and Crises: Exploring the Deep Roots of Vulnerability in the Global Industrial Food System
Publication Date:
Food SystemsCOVID-19Food SystemsResilience
The global food system relies on a small number of staple grains produced by a small number of countries and traded by a small number of firms in highly financialized commodity markets prone to volatility. This paper explores these dynamics as they relate to worldwide food crises and food systems transformation.
Air Pollutant Emissions from Global Food Systems are Responsible for Environmental Impacts, Crop Losses, and Mortality
Publication Date:
Food SystemsFood Systems
Between 10 and 90 percent of country-level air pollutant emissions come from food production, processing, packaging, transport, retailing, consumption, and disposal. Food system emissions are responsible for approximately 22 percent of global mortality due to poor air quality and 1.4 percent of global crop production losses. This article is behind a paywall.
Micronutrient Resilience and Climate Change: Nutrition for Resilience White Paper #1
Publication Date:
Nutrition in Humanitarian ContextsFood SystemsMicronutrient Interventions
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.
Complementary Feeding in Emergencies Programming—Yemen Case Study
Publication Date:
WastingBreastfeedingComplementary FeedingEmergency NutritionInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)
This USAID Advancing Nutrition case study argues that donors and decision makers need a greater understanding of the importance of complementary feeding and that the humanitarian response must be balanced to improve and scale both preventive and curative nutrition efforts. Integration with other sectors, such as food security and livelihoods, may enhance opportunities to engage men.
Complementary Feeding in Emergencies Programming—Myanmar Case Study
Publication Date:
Nutrition in Humanitarian ContextsWastingComplementary FeedingEmergency Nutrition
This USAID Advancing Nutrition report provides examples of what is possible at the humanitarian-development nexus when influenced by the performance of multi-sector integrated policies, coordination, funding, and program implementation. Practitioners should continue to assess the potential for integrating these interventions into humanitarian planning efforts.
Access to Health Services, Food, and Water during an Active Conflict: Evidence from Ethiopia
Publication Date:
Nutrition in Humanitarian ContextsChild NutritionEmergency NutritionWater, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)
The conflict in Ethiopia has decreased access to health services and medicine and the ability to purchase staple foods and soap, especially among poor and rural populations, households with undernourished children, and those living in communities without health facilities. Documented differences in the impact of the conflict could help guide rapid post-conflict responses.
Supporting Children with Feeding Difficulties and Disabilities in Nutrition Programs: Tools for Action Webinar
Publication Date:
Early Childhood DevelopmentInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)
The Feeding and Disability Resource Bank is a collection of resources that addresses feeding difficulties and encourages disability inclusion in nutrition programs. This is a webinar with simultaneous interpretation in American Sign Language, French, and Spanish.
Role of Pediatricians, Pediatric Associations, and Academic Departments in Ensuring Optimal Early Childhood Development Globally: Position Paper of the International Pediatric Association
Publication Date:
Early Childhood Development
The International Pediatric Association calls for prioritizing early childhood development in routine pediatric care, identifies challenges to doing so, and proposes strategies and resources to overcome them. This paper is behind a paywall.
Nurturing Care and Men's Engagement: Thematic Brief
Publication Date:
Early Childhood DevelopmentBreastfeedingGenderInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Maternal Nutrition
The engagement of men is associated with higher levels of antenatal, childbirth, and postnatal care, better infant and mother nutrition, higher rates of exclusive breastfeeding, and a reduction of postpartum depression and violence against women and children.
Improving Nutrition among Children with Feeding Difficulties and Disabilities: Call to Action for Policymakers
Publication Date:
Early Childhood DevelopmentWastingBreastfeedingComplementary FeedingInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)
Improving competencies among health professionals, ensuring inclusion in social protection and food supplementation program eligibility criteria, revising guidelines and care protocols, and ensuring that disability-inclusive nutrition programs are included in government- and donor-funded guidance documents are critical to improving nutrition among children with feeding difficulties and disabili
Female nutrition workers and male agricultural extension workers experienced an increase in nutrition-related knowledge, household and individual diet quality, and women’s empowerment. Training men to deliver nutrition messages could help address shortages of female extension workers and provide greater opportunities to scale and promote nutrition-sensitive agriculture.
The Multiple Dimensions of Participation: Key Determinants of Nutrition Intervention Outcomes
Publication Date:
Capacity Strengthening
Papers in this series discuss how to define and measure participation, how to explore approaches to encourage indirect and direct participation, and how participation at different time points and by different stakeholders can validate, support, and increase the effectiveness of interventions.
International Humanitarian Organizations’ Perspectives on Localization Efforts
Publication Date:
Capacity Strengthening
This critical research addresses internal barriers to localization and identifies how perceptions of barriers or drivers differ depending on roles and institutional affiliations. The ways that current operational expectations can evolve to support localization, how localization is currently implemented, and how organizations address localization challenges are also assessed.
Evidence on the Linkages Between Gender-Based Violence and Nutrition: Summary of Findings Specific to Adolescent Girls
Publication Date:
Social and Behavior Change and GenderAdolescent NutritionAnemiaBreastfeedingChild NutritionEmergency NutritionGender
This literature review found limited research specifically investigating linkages between gender-based violence and nutrition outcomes among adolescent girls. Investing in research that disaggregates data by age is critical to understanding the experiences and specific needs of adolescent girls.
Growth Monitoring and Promotion Technology Solution Aims to Improve Service Delivery and Strategic Use of Data in Bangladesh
Publication Date:
Nutrition and Health SystemsGrowth Monitoring and Promotion
The Government of Bangladesh’s new module for growth monitoring and promotion supports health workers’ service provision and engagement with caregivers. The data dashboard helps frontline managers and supervisors monitor the growth of an individual child, facilitates population-level tracking, and supports more accurate diagnoses and informed policymaking.
Getting It Right! Stepwise SBC Best Practice through User-Tested Tools
Publication Date:
Social and Behavior Change and Gender
A suite of stepwise, user-tested tools to help programmers achieve high-quality nutrition SBC across the program cycle. Presented by Kelsey Torres, Specialist, USAID Advancing Nutrition and Amelia Giancarlo, Program Officer, USAID Advancing Nutrition.
Grandmas and Global Health—The Role of Culture in Health Promotion
Publication Date:
Knowledge Management
Grandmothers and other senior women are underutilized resources for promoting positive change in communities. The director of the Grandmother Project argues that developing intergenerational consensus for change requires engaging senior women to improve their knowledge and confidence and warns against viewing elders as an obstacle to change. This is a podcast.