Behavioral Insights into Micronutrient Powder Use for Childhood Anemia in Arequipa, Peru
Brewer, Jessica D., Julianna Shinnick, Karina Román, et al. Global Health: Science and Practice, December 2020
Research Articles
Barriers to using micronutrient powder (MNP) include previous experiences with health care providers, inconvenient access to MNP, and the absence of reminders to provide MNP. Providing culturally relevant messaging and encouraging changes to feeding routines can lower barriers. Health care provider training should encourage positive interpersonal interactions when initiating MNP. The abstract is available in Spanish.
Behavioral Solutions for Child Feeding Before and After Illness
USAID Advancing Nutrition, Breakthrough ACTION, September 2022
- Social and Behavior Change and Gender
Reports and Tools
Behavioral design guided the development of solutions that support families to continue feeding their young children during periods of illness and more food in the two weeks following an illness. Solutions also provide community- and facility-based health workers with resources and approaches to support families.
Benefits of Small-Quantity Lipid-Based Nutrient Supplements for Child Nutrition and Survival Warrant Moving to Scale
Nature Food, February 2023
- Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
- Nutrition in Humanitarian Contexts
Reports and Tools
Small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements are a highly cost-effective intervention to reduce relative risk of mortality, severe wasting and stunting, iron deficiency anemia, and developmental delay between 6 and 23 months of age. Such supplements should be considered an essential nutrition intervention but should be integrated into other interventions to improve child survival, nutrition, and development. This resource is behind a paywall.
Best Practices for Conducting a Remote Data Quality Assessment
Infectious Disease Society of America, November 2021
- Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
Reports and Tools
Using a remote data quality assessment approach facilitates routine monitoring in emergency settings or when travel is not possible. Remote approaches also protect the health and safety of service providers, government staff, data collectors, and supervisors.
Beyond Stunting: Complementary Indicators for Monitoring and Evaluating USAID Nutrition Activities
USAID Advancing Nutrition, September 2021
- Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
Reports and Tools
Recent literature has critically examined the use of stunting as an indicator for evaluating the impact of nutrition interventions. The guidance document suggests approaches and indicators to measure the results of nutrition programs in a comprehensive and meaningful way.
Biases in Self-Reported Food Insecurity Measurement: A List Experiment Approach
Tadesse, Getaw, Gashaw T. Abate, Tadiwos Zewdie. Journal of Food Policy, March 2020
- Food Systems
- Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
Research Articles
Challenges surrounding the impact evaluations of food security programs include issues with both objective and subjective measurements. Exploring the role of bias, researchers compared direct responses to food insecurity questions to indirect responses using a list experiment approach. The results from the data collected in two districts in northern Ethiopia showed that biases have led to false conclusions about the Ethiopian Household Asset Building program. The authors discuss possible options and precautionary actions that can mitigate the issues related to measuring food insecurity using self-reported questions.
Birth & Beyond iOS App
Global Health Media, June 2020
- Early Childhood Development
Reports and Tools
The Birth & Beyond app provides easy access to videos for mothers and other caregivers that focus on birth, breastfeeding, newborn care, small baby care, and complementary feeding. Videos are currently available in 21 languages and can be streamed or downloaded to an offline library. The app is free for download, works with iPhones, and its Android version is in development.
Bite the Talk Ep 14—Nothing about Us without Us
Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, August 2022
- Knowledge Management
Reports and Tools
Representatives from youth-driven organizations advocate for young people to be aware, equipped, empowered, and engaged to address food and nutrition issues. Speakers seek greater understanding of how government, business, other development actors, and young people can work together to ensure food system sustainability. This is a podcast with a transcript.
Blended Learning Using Peer Mentoring and WhatsApp for Building Capacity of Health Workers for Strengthening Immunization Services in Kenya
Hossain, Iqbal, Isaac Mugoya, Lilian Muchai, et al. Global Health: Science and Practice, March 2021
Research Articles
Peer mentoring for immunization capacity building of maternal and child health nurses using WhatsApp increased mentees' knowledge, skills, and practices; improved engagement with peers; and promoted discussion and learning. Peer mentoring and WhatsApp networking are useful blended learning methods for need-based and individualized capacity building of health workers. Research to assess the comparative cost-benefit between classroom-based training and peer mentoring with WhatsApp networking will be useful.
Body Composition During Outpatient Treatment of Severe Acute Malnutrition: Results from a Randomised Trial Testing Different Doses of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods
Kangas, Suvi T., Pernille Kaestel, Cécile Salpéteur, et al. Clinical Nutrition, March 2020
- Nutrition in Humanitarian Contexts
Research Articles
Ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTF), dosed by body weight, are the basis of treatment for uncomplicated severe acute malnutrition. Weight gain is the main way to monitor the effectiveness of such therapies. Previous reporting claimed that a lower-than-recommended dose of RUTF led to no less weight gain than the standard dose. This study was designed to examine that reporting and investigate the composition of gained mass based on this differential. The authors found there was no significant difference in tissue accretion in the lower dose of RUTF than in the standard dose.
The Brain Architects Podcast: COVID-19 Special Edition: A Different World
Harvard University Center on the Developing Child, March 2020
- Early Childhood Development
Events
Caregivers and health care workers caring for children through the current pandemic can listen to this series of podcasts on child development for advice and support. The podcasts cover a range of topics on how best to protect child development in the context of COVID-19, including the importance of caregiver mental health, how children can safely receive care from their pediatrician, and how to mitigate the effects on children as the virus disproportionately affects communities of color.
Breastfeeding and COVID-19
World Health Organization, June 2020
- Nutrition and Health Systems
Reports and Tools
The World Health Organization recommends that mothers with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 be encouraged to practice skin-to-skin contact and initiate or continue breastfeeding while practicing infection prevention and control measures. Current data suggest that the health benefits of breastfeeding outweigh the risks of potential infant or child COVID-19 infection. Current data are insufficient to conclude vertical transmission of COVID-19 through breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding and Humanitarian Emergencies: The Experiences of Pregnant and Lactating Women during the Earthquake in Abruzzo, Italy
Giusti, Angela, Francesca Marchetti, Francesca Zambri, et al. International Breastfeeding Journal, June 2022
- Nutrition in Humanitarian Contexts
Research Articles
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.
Breastfeeding in the 21st Century
World Health Organization, 2016
- Knowledge Management
Reports and Tools
Countries need to invest in policies and programs that support women’s breastfeeding decisions. Promoting lactation-friendly employment conditions, and ensuring the availability of health services that support women and their families in breastfeeding, are particularly important.
Breastfeeding Knowledge and Practices of Working Mothers in the Informal Economy in New Delhi: A Formative Study to Explore New Intervention Pathways towards Improved Maternal and Child Health Outcomes
Chowdhury, Antara Rai, Aditi Surie, and Gautam Bhan. Social Science & Medicine, July 2021
- Nutrition and Health Systems
Research Articles
The conditions and nature of informal employment shape maternal and child health outcomes. Delaying the mother's return to work, increasing the proximity between mother and child, ensuring greater knowledge of breastfeeding and early childhood development practices, improving problem solving capacity and agency of the mother, and providing enabling home and workplace conditions are important interventions. This article is behind a paywall.
Breastfeeding Practices after a Counselling Intervention for Factory Workers in Bangladesh
Haider, Rukhsana, Virginia Thorley, Jennifer Yourkavitch. Maternal & Child Nutrition, November 2020
Research Articles
Breastfeeding practices of factory workers in a peer counseling intervention group were significantly better than those in the control group. Factories employing female workers should consider providing skilled community‐based peer counselors to improve infant health outcomes.
Breastfeeding and Prevention of Overweight in Children
WHO, UNICEF, March 2020
- Early Childhood Development
- Nutrition and Health Systems
Reports and Tools
Breastfeeding gives a baby a healthy start in life that extends into adulthood and can even impact nations as a whole. This advocacy brief describes the various benefits of breastfeeding, focusing on the reduction of childhood overweight risk and obesity that can extend into adulthood. On a larger scale, it advocates for breastfeeding as a means to reduce healthcare costs and support the development of nations.
Breastfeeding Protection, Promotion, and Support in Humanitarian Emergencies: A Systematic Review of Literature
Dall'Oglio, Immacolata, Francesca Marchetti, Rachele Mascolo, et al. Journal of Human Lactation, November 2020
- Nutrition in Humanitarian Contexts
Research Articles
While Infant and Young Children Feeding in Emergency guidelines outline interventions to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding, these recommendations are rarely applied. Research evaluating the influence of interventions aimed at improving breastfeeding in emergency settings is important to encourage and implement optimal breastfeeding practices. This article is behind a paywall.
Breastfeeding, Physical Growth, and Cognitive Development
Wallenborn, Jordyn T., Gillian A. Levine, Angélica Carreira dos Santos, et al. Pediatrics, May 2021
- Early Childhood Development
Research Articles
Complying with the World Health Organization recommendation to exclusively breastfeed for 6 months, then practice complementary feeding until 2 years of age, is associated with improved child development and height-for-age z-score and a 67 percent decrease in the odds of stunting. This article is behind a paywall.
Breastfeeding: A Key Investment in Human Capital
Murthi, Mamta, and Meera Shekar, Pediatrics, March 2021
- Early Childhood Development
Reports and Tools
The Human Capital Index (HCI) suggests that, on average, a child born in sub-Saharan Africa is likely to reach only 40 percent of their full earnings potential. Because undernutrition and child mortality rates contribute significantly to the HCI, breastfeeding is a key factor in human capital development. This article is behind a paywall.
Breastfeeding: Not Just Mom’s Job—How USAID Promotes and Protects Breastfeeding
USAID Advancing Nutrition, 2021
- Knowledge Management
Reports and Tools
Optimal breastfeeding is one of the most powerful solutions to save the lives of infants and children. Improving breastfeeding extends beyond supporting the woman and child—requiring encouragement and support from skilled counselors, family members, health care providers, employers, policymakers, and others.
Bringing Greater Precision to Interactions between Community Health Workers and Households to Improve Maternal and Newborn Health Outcomes in India
Smittenaar, Peter, B.M. Ramesh, Mokshada Jain, et al. Global Health: Science and Practice, October 2020
- Social and Behavior Change and Gender
Research Articles
Community health worker (CHW) presence, number, and timing of visits, counseling, and behavior change messaging strategies, and focus on specific household members are associated with recommended maternal and newborn care practices, including early initiation of and exclusive breastfeeding. Counseling, training, strong supervision, and tools that can help CHWs prioritize and track beneficiaries and suggest behavior change strategies are critical.
Building Better Breastfeeding Counselling Programmes: New Tools for Implementation
Global Breastfeeding Collective, August 2021
Events
This webinar provides an overview of breastfeeding-related tools, including implementation guidance on counseling women to improve breastfeeding practices; a training course for infant and young child feeding counseling; operational guidance for breastfeeding counseling in emergencies; and an advocacy brief about the role of midwives and nurses in protecting, promoting, and supporting breastfeeding. Recordings are available in Arabic, English, French, Russian, and Spanish.
Building Climate Resilience for Nutrition
USAID Advancing Nutrition, April 2022
- Knowledge Management
Reports and Tools
Protecting, promoting, and supporting breastfeeding reduces emissions related to livestock care and milk production, farming, production of containers, transportation associated with distribution systems, and disposal of associated waste. Nutrition-sensitive agriculture practices produce more nutrient-rich food and can mitigate climate change through composting, less intensive agriculture that reduces use of heavy machinery, and integrated pest management.