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.
Taking a Food Systems Approach to Policymaking: A Resource for Policymakers
Publication Date:
Food SystemsBreastfeedingFood SafetyGender
Resources explore potential entry points and ways to identify and engage relevant stakeholders and provide practical ideas to improve food systems’ ability to improve nutrition and health.
Nutrition in Humanitarian ContextsWastingAdolescent NutritionCOVID-19Infant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)
Donors should fully fund the scale-up of early prevention and treatment, provide multi-year funding, and ensure that budgets include ready-to-use therapeutic food allocations. Governments should integrate early prevention and treatment programs into national primary health and nutrition care systems and services—and protect child nutrition investments from budget cuts.
Agriculture digitalization is important to leverage the benefits of digital technologies to transform societies, improve livelihoods, and eradicate poverty. The report identifies countries’ current status by assessing infrastructure, digital penetration, policies and regulations, the business environment, human capital, and agro-innovation.
Evaluation of Multiple Micronutrient Supplementation and Medium-Quantity Lipid-Based Nutrient Supplementation in Pregnancy on Child Development in Rural Niger: A Secondary Analysis of a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial
Publication Date:
Nutrition in Humanitarian ContextsMaternal NutritionMicronutrient Interventions
Prenatal macronutrient and micronutrient supplementation provided no benefit for child development outcomes when compared with iron-folic acid supplementation. Prenatal lipid-based nutrient supplements had a positive effect on cognitive development trajectory and time to achieve selected gross motor milestones.
Delivering nutritious and safe food requires government institutions with strong food regulatory and enforcement capacity to establish evidence-based standards and enable compliance, writes USAID Chief Nutritionist Shawn Baker. The private sector needs greater capacity, commitment, and access to financing.
Breastfeeding and Humanitarian Emergencies: The Experiences of Pregnant and Lactating Women during the Earthquake in Abruzzo, Italy
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Nutrition in Humanitarian ContextsBreastfeedingInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)
Findings include the central role of partner and family support, the need for spaces where mothers can share experiences and practices with each other, the lack of breastfeeding support after hospital discharge, and the inappropriate donation and distribution of breastmilk substitutes.
Research and policy agendas should focus on who and what is given space in nutrition debates, how power is exercised, knowledge of alternative and sustainable food systems, and incorporating equality issues in the design and evaluation of interventions.
Participation Intensity in a Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture Intervention
Publication Date:
Food SystemsGenderNutrition Sensitive Agriculture
In a study assessing program delivery, participation intensity was highest among older and highly educated participants from moderate wealth households and associated with better recall of topics discussed and greater knowledge of key methods. Associations were most significant for outcomes within individual decision-making ability.
Mothers' Milk Contributes Almost $4 Trillion to the Global Economy—But Its Value Has Never Been Considered. A New Tool Now Makes That Possible
Publication Date:
Food SystemsKnowledge ManagementNutrition and Health SystemsBreastfeedingEconomic Growth
The tool uses existing data to estimate the value of breastmilk. The accompanying webinar and brief advocate for developing paid maternity leave and workplace policies that support breastfeeding, ending exploitative marketing of commercial formula milk, and improving access to skilled counseling.
Guideline: Fortification of Wheat Flour with Vitamins and Minerals as a Public Health Strategy
Publication Date:
Food SystemsGenderMicronutrient Interventions
This guideline provides evidence-informed and locally adaptable recommendations on the fortification of wheat flour with vitamins and minerals to improve micronutrient status. Recommendations are helpful for the design, implementation, and scaling of nutrition actions and are particularly relevant to food-fortification programs.
Innovative New App Launched to Train, Support, and Motivate Frontline Nutrition Workers in Gujarat State, India
Publication Date:
Adolescent NutritionAnemiaBreastfeedingInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Maternal NutritionNutrition Assessment, Counseling, and Support (NACS)
The app provides frontline health workers with real-time support to problem-solve, get answers to questions, and participate in trainings. The platform collects feedback on service quality and provides anonymous feedback about supervision. The app collates and analyzes data, which helps government officials monitor program quality and identify performance gaps.
Improving the Quality of Care for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health: Implementation Guide for National, District, and Facility Levels
Publication Date:
Nutrition and Health Systems
The guide provides practical guidance for policymakers, program managers, health practitioners, and other actors working to establish and implement quality of care programs for maternal, newborn, and child health.
Farm-Level Production Diversity and Child and Adolescent Nutrition in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa: A Multicountry, Longitudinal Study
Publication Date:
Food SystemsAdolescent Nutrition
Further farm-level diversification is not a suitable general strategy to improve child and adolescent nutrition, but it may be useful in some contexts. Livestock production shows some promise for improving child and adolescent nutrition.
Optimising Child and Adolescent Health and Development
Publication Date:
Early Childhood DevelopmentAdolescent NutritionMaternal Nutrition
Evidence supports a holistic agenda for child health spanning sexual, reproductive, maternal, childhood, and adolescent health; nutrition; and development. This series shows the importance of greater integration and implementation of evidence-based interventions across health, education, and social systems, as well as breaking down sectoral siloes.
Africa Regional Convening of the Global Initiative to Support Parents
Publication Date:
Early Childhood Development
Sessions focus on nurturing care for early childhood development, the importance of supporting caregivers of adolescents and children with disabilities, promoting caregiver and children’s mental health, and preventing child maltreatment. Speakers discuss scale-up, advocacy, financing, innovation issues, and working through different types of programs.
Priority Setting in Early Childhood Development: An Analytical Framework for Economic Evaluation of Interventions
Publication Date:
Early Childhood DevelopmentMonitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
As more programs promote early child development, this paper presents a unified analytical framework for assessing impact and highlights the range of costs and cost-effectiveness of currently available intervention strategies.
Estimates of a Multidimensional Index of Nurturing Care in the Next 1000 Days of Life for Children in Low-Income and Middle-Income Countries: A Modelling Study
Publication Date:
Early Childhood DevelopmentInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)
Most children are not receiving minimally adequate nurturing care. Further investments in indicator measurement and resources for preschool-age children are important, particularly for low-income populations and in the domains of responsive caregiving, early learning, safety, and security. This article is behind a paywall.
Child Diet and Mother–Child Interactions Mediate Intervention Effects on Child Growth and Development
Publication Date:
Early Childhood DevelopmentInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)
Child diet and mother–child interactions improved children's cognitive, language, and motor development and had indirect effects on socio-emotional development. Leveraging these interactions may improve intervention effects on child outcomes.
Reimagining Technical Assistance: Critical Shifts to Enable Strengthened Capacity & Better Health Outcomes
Publication Date:
Capacity StrengtheningAdolescent NutritionGender
The brief outlines shifts required to adopt a new approach to technical assistance that strengthens country institutional capacity to lead health agendas and deliver better outcomes.