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Nutrition and Climate Change—Current State of Play: Scoping Review

Emergency Nutrition Network, April 2022
  • Nutrition in Humanitarian Contexts
Reports and Tools
Complex, multi-directional pathways link nutrition and climate change. It is critical for sectors to work together and develop more holistic systematic approaches to address the threats of climate change to healthy and sustainable diets for populations vulnerable to undernutrition and crises.

Nutrition Counseling and Care During and After Childhood Illness Literature Review: Evidence from African Countries

USAID MOMENTUM, September 2021
  • Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
Reports and Tools
The review proposes recommendations to improve caregiver practices, strengthen the quality of feeding counseling during illness, address evidence gaps related to feeding care during illness, and identify enablers and barriers to those providing optimal feeding counseling and support after illness or during recovery. Recommendations include strengthening training, skills building, and supervision for health providers; managing workloads so health providers have time to provide quality counseling; and educating community influencers.

The Nutrition Crisis Hidden Within the Pandemic

U.S. Agency for International Development Medium, July 2020
  • Food Systems
Reports and Tools
COVID-19 impacts income and affordable nutritious food, and many food producers and sellers are struggling to survive. Health systems and social safety nets are overwhelmed, many are reluctant to seek health care, and misinformation hinders breastfeeding. While demand for humanitarian assistance grows, safe delivery is a challenge. USAID partners are working with food producers to determine consumer nutrition needs and providing counseling about nutrition and COVID-19 transmission via cell phones, radio, and social media.

Nutrition During Pregnancy and Lactation

The National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, June 2020
  • Nutrition and Health Systems
Reports and Tools
This brief summarizes new evidence related to nutrients, dietary patterns, and nutritional supplements, including improving the micronutrient composition of breastmilk. It identifies additional research needed to design effective interventions to improve maternal and infant nutrition.

Nutrition and Feeding of Children with Feeding Difficulties and Disabilities: Gaps, Progress, and Opportunities

USAID Advancing Nutrition, June 2023
  • Knowledge Management
Research Articles
Supporting children with feeding difficulties and disabilities requires strengthening systems to improve the identification, early intervention, and inclusion of children with complex needs in primary health care services and expanding availability of specialized services. Provide support to families to address social determinants and raise awareness of the need and opportunities. Build the evidence base on effective interventions to support children and their families and identify the most effective tools and approaches.

Nutrition and Feeding of Children with Feeding Difficulties and Disabilities: Gaps, Progress, and Opportunities

USAID Advancing Nutrition, June 2023
  • Early Childhood Development
Reports and Tools
This review offers recommendations including strengthening systems to improve identification, early intervention, and inclusion of children with complex needs in primary health care settings; expanding the availability of specialized services; and providing direct support to families to address social determinants that affect nutrition outcomes. Other recommendations include conducting advocacy to raise awareness of the need and opportunities to support children, building the evidence base, and evaluating existing tools and approaches to identify impactful interventions.

Nutrition Financing Q&A with Senior Nutrition Advisor Rebecca Egan

Agrilinks, January 2022
  • Knowledge Management
Reports and Tools
Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) deliver about 75 percent of all food consumed in sub-Saharan Africa but generally struggle to access financing. The Nutritious Foods Financing Facility will bolster SMEs and demonstrate how direct loans to SMEs can contribute to positive nutrition outcomes by increasing supply and consumption of safe and nutritious foods.

Nutrition Governance and Multi-Sectoral Coordination

USAID Advancing Nutrition, July 2023
  • Knowledge Management
Reports and Tools
Nutrition governance requires political will, coordination across multiple sectors, sustainable and transparent financing, and mechanisms to monitor and influence decision-making and policy implementation. This interactive web page showcases work from seven countries.

Nutrition in Adolescent Growth and Development

Norris, Shane A., Edward A. Frongillo, Maureen M. Black, et al. The Lancet, January 2022
  • Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
Research Articles
Inadequate investments in nutrition policy development and research have inhibited the development of adolescent-responsive nutritional policies. This leaves the nutrition community without an integrated perspective on adolescent growth and development and the role that nutrition plays.

Nutrition in Africa’s Drylands: A Conceptual Framework for Addressing Acute Malnutrition (Draft)

Feinstein International Center, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, October 2019
  • Nutrition in Humanitarian Contexts
Reports and Tools
East Africa and the Sahel’s drylands present a unique context for implementation. Regime instability, climate change, and shifts in traditional pastoral ways of life mean that stakeholders need a new way to view these regions. This brief examines and expands upon UNICEF’s malnutrition causal framework to respond to these changing circumstances. The new framework captures how climate and conflict are essential in gauging the underlying causes of malnutrition in the region. An accompanying webinar provides further detail.

Nutrition in the Health Sector: Urgent Need to Accelerate Action and Accountability

Global Nutrition Report, December 2022
  • Knowledge Management
Reports and Tools
New programmatic and financial commitments focus on the importance of strengthening national- and local-level nutrition financing, coordination, human resources, policies, and surveillance systems. Countries and other actors are also investing in community health workers, the fortification of staples with essential vitamins and minerals, and the strengthening of nutrition service delivery in primary health care.

Nutrition Information Management, Surveillance and Monitoring in the Context of COVID-19 Brief No. 2

United Nations Children’s Fund, The Global Technical Assistance Mechanism for Nutrition, Global Nutrition Cluster, July 2020
  • Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
Reports and Tools
This brief provides recommendations for undertaking a nutrition situation analysis and estimating its magnitude, monitoring impacts of COVID-19, and pursuing alternative data collection strategies. Even once restrictions have been lifted, practitioners should conduct harm-versus-risk analyses to assess the necessity of the data despite health and safety risks. Discussion focuses on remote data collection, how to estimate the number of people in nutritional need, and how to monitor the nutrition situation and programs during COVID-19.

Nutrition International Learning Resources

Nutrition International, n.d.
Reports and Tools
An online repository for research and knowledge products published by Nutrition International, such as scientific articles, guidelines, fact sheets, policy briefs, and online tools. Among the titles are Maternal, Infant and Young Child Nutrition in Tanzania; Cost-Effectiveness Analyses for the WHO Review on Multiple Micronutrient Supplements during Pregnancy; and Punjab Provincial Nutrition Response Plan for COVID-19.

Nutrition Modeling Tools: A Qualitative Study of Influence on Policy Decision Making and Determining Factors

Knight, Frances, Megan W. Bourassa, Elaine Ferguson, et al. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, April 2022
  • Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
Research Articles
Nutrition modeling tools (NMTs) have wide-ranging influence across policy and program cycles and contexts, but the impact depends on the tool application process, accompanying advocacy, and the expertise, capabilities, and resources of local teams. Understanding how practitioners have used NMTs successfully could help potential end users understand the policy questions these tools can answer and make a case for allocating resources for such analyses.

Nutrition Programs Adapt to COVID-19: Lessons for Future Shocks

USAID Advancing Nutrition, April 2023
  • Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
Reports and Tools
USAID-funded projects adapted intervention designs and delivery to respond to COVID-19. The report shares lessons learned and how to apply them to future nutrition work.

Nutrition Resources and Tools Across the USAID Program Cycle

USAID Advancing Nutrition, May 2023
  • Knowledge Management
Reports and Tools
To support multi-sectoral nutrition, the resource collection provides tools for strategic planning, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, skill building and curricula, and learning and new evidence.

Nutrition Status and Morbidity of Ethiopian Children after Recovery from Severe Acute Malnutrition: Prospective Matched Cohort Study

Girma, Tsinuel, Philip T. James, Alemseged Abdissa, et al. PLoS One, March 2022
  • Nutrition in Humanitarian Contexts
Research Articles
Results support the design of post-discharge interventions to prevent reoccurrence of acute malnutrition, reduce morbidity, and promote catch-up growth. Additional research to identify the appropriate package of post-discharge interventions is important.

Nutrition Status of Refugee and Host-Country Children: Negotiating for Equal Distribution of Relief Food during Emergencies in Uganda

Mandre, Joseph, Dasel Wambua Mulwa Kaindi, Wambui Kogi-Makau. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, March 2022
  • Nutrition in Humanitarian Contexts
Research Articles
Refugee children from South Sudan had better nutrition status than those in the host country. The Ugandan government should formulate a policy to ensure equal benefits from food relief. This article is behind a paywall.

Nutrition Voices: The Signal and the Noise—Episode 01

Nutrition International, August 2021
Reports and Tools
The host of this podcast episode discusses the role of food and beverage multinational corporations in global nutrition and encourages actors in the sector to identify areas of divergence that impact trust and success. 

Nutrition Year of Action Launch Event Recap

Nutrition for Growth, December 2020
Events
New data predict daunting morbidity and mortality consequences for maternal and child nutrition as a direct result of the pandemic. There is an opportunity to transform the way the world addresses the global hunger and nutrition crisis. 

Nutrition, Hygiene and Stimulation Education for Impoverished Mothers in Rural Uganda: Effect on Maternal Depression Symptoms and Their Associations to Child Development Outcomes

Atukunda, P., Muhoozi, G.K.M., Westerberg A.C., Iversen P.O. Nutrients. 2019, 11, 1561.
  • Early Childhood Development
Research Articles
Maternal depression is linked to poor developmental outcomes in young children. A follow-up of an open cluster-randomized trial studied the effects of a parenting education program for mothers in rural Uganda on maternal depression and child development. Participation in the parenting education program was associated with decreased maternal depression scores. Additionally, reduced maternal depression was associated with improved child cognitive and language development outcomes.

Nutritional Care for Children with Feeding Difficulties and Disabilities: A Scoping Review

Klein, Alyssa, Malia Uyehara, Andrew Cunningham, et al. PLOS Global Public Health, March 2023
Research Articles
Policies, programs, evidence, and funding to support children with feeding difficulties and disabilities and their families are insufficient. Recommendations include strengthening systems to improve identification and service provision, providing direct support to families to improve nutrition outcomes, engaging in advocacy to raise awareness of needs and opportunities, and building the evidence base on effective interventions.

Nutritional Care for Children with Feeding Difficulties and Disabilities: A Scoping Review

Klein, Alyssa, Malia Uyehara, Andrew Cunningham, et al. PLoS Global Public Health, March 2023
  • Early Childhood Development
Research Articles
This review offers recommendations including strengthening systems to improve identification and service provision, providing direct support to families to improve nutrition outcomes, engaging in advocacy to raise awareness of needs and opportunities, and building the evidence base on effective interventions.

Nutritional Interventions for Preventing Stunting in Children (Birth to 59 Months) Living in Urban Slums in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMIC)

Goudet, Sophie M., Barry A. Bogin, Nyovani J. Madise, Paula L. Griffiths. Cochrane Systematic Review. June 2019.
  • Nutrition and Health Systems
Research Articles
Researchers systematically reviewed 15 studies conducted in slums or poor urban and periurban areas to determine nutritional interventions that can prevent stunting of infants and young children who are high-risk populations. Despite finding that nutrient supplementation for mothers had no effect on birth weight and length, the authors found that maternal education interventions seemed to improve birth weight. Researchers found inconclusive results around using nutrient supplementation for children and improving health systems to improve stunting status.