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.
Training and supporting materials prepare participants to identify key gender concepts, describe why gender analysis is important, explain how to conduct a gender analysis, and complete a gender integration action plan.
Aligning Best Practices and Addressing Misinformation for Optimal Infant Feeding During the COVID-19 Pandemic
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BreastfeedingCOVID-19Infant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)
This brief discusses hospital best practices to encourage breastfeeding and ensure lactation success for COVID-19 infected mothers and their newborns. It also addresses whether COVID-19 can be passed from mother to infant at delivery, whether rooming-in and breastfeeding with an infected mother are safe, and whether it is safe to use donor milk during the pandemic.
Grandmothers—A Neglected Family Resource for Saving Newborn Lives
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Infant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)
Grandmothers play important roles in newborn care. Grounding newborn research and interventions within a family systems framework that reflects local family structures and dynamics may be more influential in saving lives than strengthening health systems.
Exploring the Influence of Social Norms on Complementary Feeding: A Scoping Review of Observational, Intervention, and Effectiveness Studies
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Food SecurityInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Maternal NutritionNutrition Assessment, Counseling, and Support (NACS)Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)
Social norms and cultural beliefs can be influential barriers or facilitators for adopting improved complementary feeding (CF) practices, but guidance to address norms and beliefs is limited.
Adolescent Nutrition: Current Progress and Looking Ahead
Publication Date:
Adolescent Nutrition
Presenters provide an overview of adolescent nutrition status across seven global regions, discuss how adolescents experience nutrition across the world, and present youth-led solutions to improve nutrition in Indonesia.
Volunteer Community Health and Agriculture Workers Help Reduce Childhood Malnutrition in Tajikistan
Publication Date:
Adolescent NutritionMaternal NutritionWater, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)
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.
Series on Maternal and Child Undernutrition Progress
Publication Date:
WastingAdolescent NutritionCOVID-19Infant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Maternal NutritionMicronutrient Interventions
Three new papers build upon findings from the 2008 and 2013 Series. They conclude that despite modest progress, maternal and child undernutrition remains a major global health concern.
Remote Developmental Evaluation: A Guide for Funders and Practitioners
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COVID-19Nutrition Assessment, Counseling, and Support (NACS)
Developmental Evaluation (DE) seeks to improve programs by strengthening innovation and adaptation. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced a shift from embedding evaluators to engaging remotely. This guide captures broadly applicable learnings and methods for successfully implementing remote DEs. This is a webinar.
From Programs to Policies: Translating Nutrition Indicators
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Nutrition Assessment, Counseling, and Support (NACS)
Programmers often need technical, project-specific data to evaluate the effectiveness of an evaluation, while advocates frequently use more easily explicable data to illustrate trends at the macro level.
The State of Evidence and Experiences in Double Fortified Salt (Iodized Salt with Iron)
Publication Date:
AnemiaMicronutrient Interventions
Articles focus on iron fortification practices and the implications of adding iron to salt, and whether double fortification salt (DFS) with iron and iodine reduce anemia, iron deficiency anemia, iron and iodine deficiencies, and functional outcomes.
Mobilising Evidence, Data, and Resources to Achieve Global Maternal and Child Undernutrition Targets and the Sustainable Development Goals: An Agenda for Action
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Adolescent NutritionAnemiaBreastfeedingCOVID-19Emergency NutritionInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Maternal NutritionMicronutrient InterventionsNutrition Assessment, Counseling, and Support (NACS)Nutrition Sensitive AgricultureWater, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)
New evidence from national and state-level success stories in stunting reduction reinforces the need for multisectoral actions to address underlying determinants of undernutrition and identifies key features of enabling political environments. Well-resourced nutrition data and information systems are essential to support this work.
Introduction to the SIMPLE Macro, a Tool to Increase the Accessibility of 24-Hour Dietary Recall Analysis and Modeling
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Micronutrient InterventionsNutrition Assessment, Counseling, and Support (NACS)
Information on long-term dietary intake is often required for nutrition research or program planning, but surveys routinely use short-term assessments such as 24-hour recalls. Methods to reduce the impact of within-person variation in 24-hour recalls typically require extensive training and skill.
International Values for Haemoglobin Distributions in Healthy Pregnant Women
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AnemiaMicronutrient Interventions
Given the increased risk of maternal and neonatal mortality that anemia poses, this study aims to help inform re-examination of WHO hemoglobin cut-off points for defining anemia in pregnancy.
Assessing Nutrient Gaps and Affordability of Complementary Foods: New Methods and Their Application in Different Settings
Publication Date:
AnemiaNutrition Assessment, Counseling, and Support (NACS)
This series of articles focuses on nutrient gaps and the affordability of nutritious foods during the complementary feeding period in South Asia and Eastern and Southern Africa, as well as the Comprehensive Nutrient Gap Assessment method for identifying the public health significance of nutrient gaps.
The Lancet Series on Maternal & Child Undernutrition Progress
Publication Date:
Adolescent NutritionMaternal NutritionWater, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)
Multi-sectoral nutrition leaders discuss how the evidence base for nutrition; health; food systems; social protection; and water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions has evolved since the first Lancet Series on Maternal & Child Undernutrition was published in 2013. They also identify priority actions to regain and accelerate progress within the next decade. This is a webinar.
Why Tackling Malnutrition Matters for Women's Empowerment
Publication Date:
Adolescent NutritionCOVID-19Maternal Nutrition
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.
Small-Scale Farmers Developing Resilience to COVID-19
Publication Date:
COVID-19Food SecurityResilience
Speakers shed light on how small-scale farmers are dealing with COVID-19, risks to food security for mothers and children, the importance of bringing digital services to farmers, and the advantages of poultry farming over other types of livestock farming. This is a podcast.
Alive & Thrive’s Cost of Not Breastfeeding tool demonstrates the importance of breastfeeding to increase economic productivity and reduce healthcare costs.
Micronutrient Forum 5th Global Conference: CONNECTED 2020
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Adolescent NutritionAnemiaBreastfeedingCOVID-19Emergency NutritionFood SafetyInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Maternal NutritionNutrition Assessment, Counseling, and Support (NACS)Nutrition Sensitive AgriculturePrivate-Sector Engagement
Recently made available to the public at no cost, conference research tracks explore Micronutrient Biology and Status Assessment, Efficacy and Safety of Micronutrient Interventions, Program Effectiveness, Designing an Enabling Environment for Micronutrients, and Food Systems. Slideshows and other written materials accompany recorded presentations.
How Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture Programs Can Realize both Nutrition and Gender Equality Goals
Publication Date:
Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture
Ensuring gender transformative outcomes of nutrition-sensitive agriculture programs (NSAPs) requires being intentional about empowering women and transforming gender relations as well as recognizing potential trade-offs between women’s different roles and the unintended consequences of NSAP participation.