USAID Advancing Nutrition in the Kyrgyz Republic works with health facilities and health care professionals to provide training and knowledge-sharing opportunities on nutrition topics, including infant and young child feeding (IYСF), adolescent girls and women nutrition, and anemia (AWNA). The project compiled a list of national trainers with experience in these areas and engaged them in the rollout of training sessions across Batken and Jalal-Abad Oblasts. The IYCF curriculum included recommendations on feeding if COVID-19 is suspected or confirmed, an area that the project supported in its second year. Throughout the project’s third year, USAID Advancing Nutrition continued to implement capacity-strengthening health workers by training mentors and health providers in Batken and Jalal-Abad Oblasts on IYCF, AWNA, and Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) programs.

In total, the project completed 79 clinical nutrition training sessions for 1,061 individuals, including 726 health workers on AWNA. 12,683 adolescent girls, pregnant women, and women of reproductive age benefited from counseling on the prevention and treatment of anemia from trained health care providers. In the Jalal-Abad Oblast, 317 health workers were trained in IYCF. 16,619 mothers of children under two years of age received improved nutrition services and counseling from USAID Advancing Nutrition-trained providers.

All trainings were conducted via Zoom and had 15–20 participants who engaged with the content for three hours per day for three days. Prior to each session, participants received printed reading assignments including IYCF counseling cards and the Kyrgyz Republic’s adaptation of the IYCF Counselling Package during COVID-19.

Training activities included 251 Batken and 96 Jalal-Abad health workers in 15 hospitals and focused on the protection, promotion, and support of breastfeeding. These trainings are based on the updated WHO/UNICEF BFHI training package. They were conducted in-person during an improved epidemiological situation, since the updated training module required the observation of clinical practice and in-person interviews with employees, pregnant women, and mothers.

As a next step, the project will finalize and conduct additional BFHI training sessions, and roll out IYCF and AWNA training in comparison areas. Learn more about our work in the Kyrgyz Republic.