The sudden onset of COVID-19 in 2020 delivered blows to many international, national, and subnational structures that supported good nutrition. To respond to global challenges exacerbated by COVID-19, representatives from USAID, UNICEF, WHO, and USAID Advancing Nutrition formed the Agile Core Team for Nutrition Monitoring (ACT-NM) in the early days of the pandemic to collaborate on key products related to nutrition data collection. The newly-formed ACT-NM Group collected key information on effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on nutrition systems.

In 2022, with support of USAID Advancing Nutrition, ACT-NM successfully produced an Analytical Framework on the pathways of the impact of COVID-19 on nutrition outcomes in various populations. This framework supports an integrated, systems approach to understanding nutrition in the context of COVID-19 and future pandemics/crises. The Analytical Framework and country case-studies built using its pathways were also referenced in the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) 2022 report. For policymakers and program staff, this tool is a powerful and adaptable means to strengthen nutrition programs in the wake of COVID-19 and future shocks. The framework also includes links to the Data Mapping Tool that identifies country-specific and regional and global data sets that contain information relevant to specific elements of the framework. Finally, the framework includes a link to the Technical Note which fully describes the framework, the methodology used to develop it and provides examples of specific pathways.

USAID Advancing Nutrition continued to facilitate and provide administrative support to the ACT-NM through September 2023, after which the member agencies will rotate administrative responsibilities.