Building Forward Better—An Exploration of Nutrition Practices, Food Choice, and Coping Behaviors Among Kenyan Adolescents During COVID-19: Experiences and Program Implications
Kavle, Justine A., Patrick Codjia, Constance Gathi, et al. Food Science & Nutrition, December 2022
- Food Systems
Research Articles
Adolescents in Kenya skipped meals and reduced the amount and variety of foods consumed during the COVID-19 pandemic and reported working in the informal sector and selling personal items to support their families. Authors recommend programming to strengthen and improve access to social protection measures and agricultural initiatives for vulnerable families with adolescents and help adolescents develop life skills to encourage good nutrition.
Building the Future of Girls: Alive & Thrive Interventions for Improved Adolescent Nutrition in Ethiopia
Alive & Thrive, October 2022
- Nutrition and Health Systems
Reports and Tools
These videos introduce Alive & Thrive’s adolescent nutrition intervention, including interviews with girls, school teachers and administrators, health extension workers, government officials, and project staff. The videos are available in Amharic with English subtitles.
Building Healthy Communities at Home and Abroad: Catalyzing the Impact of the U.S. Government’s Efforts to Support Breastfeeding Families
U.S. Government Global Nutrition Coordination Plan, August 13, 2019, Washington, DC
- Nutrition and Health Systems
Events
As a leader in global nutrition and development, the U.S. Government recognizes the critical role that the 1,000-day window between pregnancy and a child’s second birthday has on child growth, cognitive development, and disease prevention. In honor of World Breastfeeding Week and National Breastfeeding Month, the U.S. Government Global Nutrition Coordination Plan hosted an event in Washington DC on August 2019 to bring together U.S. Government departments and agencies, implementing partners, external stakeholders, civil society, and other breastfeeding advocates. Participants discussed skilled support for breastfeeding as well as U.S. Government investments supporting families to breastfeed in the workplace and in communities.
Building High-Quality Health Systems to Improve Nutrition Services for Women and Children: Policy and Implementation Considerations
World Bank Group, August 2022
- Nutrition and Health Systems
Reports and Tools
High-quality health systems for nutrition require integrated service provision and supplies, performance monitoring, strategic purchasing, and functioning referral services. Critical to achieve this are political leadership and commitment, well-defined quality metrics, quality and timely nutrition data, and a strong accountability system.
Building Resilience Through Play: How Global ECD Programs Help Children Cope During COVID-19
Thrive Coalition, July 2021
Events
Speakers from Sesame Workshop and Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child demonstrate the importance and effectiveness of early childhood development programs, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a webinar.
Building SBC Capacity Focus of Innovative Blended Learning Program in West and Central Africa
Alive & Thrive, February 2022
- Capacity Strengthening
Reports and Tools
The blended learning program, which aims to build capacity to integrate social and behavior change (SBC) into nutrition programs, includes an online course as well as coaching support and live lectures to increase accountability. Despite occasional connectivity issues and a heavy reading load, participants reported learning practical skills, including developing costed SBC action plans.
The Burden of Child and Maternal Malnutrition and Trends in Its Indicators in the States of India: The Global Burden of Disease Study 1990–2017
India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative Malnutrition Collaborators. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, Vol. 3, Issue 12, December 2019
- Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
- Nutrition and Health Systems
Research Articles
To inform subnational nutrition actions in India, researchers analyzed the burden of disease due to malnutrition and trends in malnutrition indicators from 1990 to 2017 in every Indian state as part of Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2017. Examining trends in relation to Indian and global nutrition targets, the authors found that malnutrition is still the leading risk factor for disease burden in India and the predominant risk factor for death in children younger than 5 years of age. This type of analysis could be useful in other low- and middle-income countries to track and motivate progress toward reducing malnutrition.
The Business Case for Investment in Nutrition
Chatham House, July 2020
- Knowledge Management
Reports and Tools
Authors discuss the impacts of malnutrition on companies’ bottom line, including loss of productivity due to underweight employees and lifelong cognitive impacts from childhood malnutrition. While corporate entities cannot address all factors driving malnutrition, providing workplace support for breastfeeding women is within businesses’ sphere of influence.
The Business Case for Social and Behavior Change for Breastfeeding and Complementary Feeding
Avenir Health, Breakthrough RESEARCH, Population Council, February 2023
- Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
Reports and Tools
Modeling found that social and behavior change (SBC) interventions for breastfeeding and complementary feeding are highly cost-effective to reduce morbidity and mortality associated with undernutrition, especially in areas with higher mortality. Future research should explore social norms around breastfeeding and complementary feeding and the cost-effectiveness of SBC for women’s nutrition.
Can a Gender-Sensitive Integrated Poultry Value Chain and Nutrition Intervention Among the Rural Poor Increase Women’s Empowerment in Burkina Faso?
International Food Policy Research Institute, October 2022
- Food Systems
Reports and Tools
This study finds that a gender- and nutrition-sensitive poultry production intervention in Burkina Faso did not impact women’s empowerment or gender parity. This may be due to the lack of a productive asset transfer, which has previously been shown to be essential but not sufficient for women’s empowerment in agricultural development programs.
Can Agroecology Improve Food Security and Nutrition? A Review
Kerr, Rachel Bezner, Sidney Madsen, Moritz Stüber, et al. Global Food Security, June 2021
Research Articles
Evidence suggests that crop diversity, organic soil amendments, and agroforestry have positive impacts on food security and nutrition and that agroecological systems that include multiple components are more likely to produce positive outcomes. Farmer networks and attention to social equity dimensions are also important. This article is behind a paywall.
Can Children Catch Up from the Consequences of Undernourishment? Evidence from Child Linear Growth, Developmental Epigenetics, and Brain and Neurocognitive Development
Leroy, Jef L., Edward A. Frongillo, Pragya Dewan, et al. Advances in Nutrition, July 2020
- Early Childhood Development
Research Articles
Undernutrition increases susceptibility to illness and risk of death and contributes to neurocognitive development delays, reduced school achievement, reduced earnings in adulthood, and increased probability of chronic diseases. Current evidence demonstrates that the most effective strategy to reduce stunting is through programs that prevent rather than treat linear growth retardation in the first 1,000 days. Authors argue that early undernutrition has irreversible impacts and cautions against studies suggesting otherwise.
Can Digitally Enabling Community Health and Nutrition Workers Improve Services Delivery to Pregnant Women and Mothers of Infants? Quasi-Experimental Evidence from a National-Scale Nutrition Programme in India
Patil, Sumeet R., Sneha Nimmagadda, Lakshmi Gopalakrishnan, et al. BMJ Global Health, July 2022
- Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
Research Articles
Integrating a mobile app with existing services improved timeliness of home visits and appropriate counseling, especially when existing service levels were low, but did not impact infant and young child feeding practices. Digital enhancements can complement but should not replace other efforts to strengthen health systems and address structural barriers.
Can We Predict the Burden of Acute Malnutrition in Crisis-Affected Countries? Findings from Somalia and South Sudan
Checchi, Francesco, Séverine Frison, Abdihamid Warsame, et al. BMC Nutrition, August 2022
- Nutrition in Humanitarian Contexts
Research Articles
Researchers explored a statistical approach to predict the burden of acute malnutrition as a complement to surveys in Somalia and South Sudan, but the models did not perform well. The predictive approach remains theoretically attractive and deserves further evaluation with larger datasets across multiple settings.
Capacity Development with Local Partners: An Organizational Development Process to Support USAID’s Journey to Self-Reliance
The Capacity Development Network, January 2021
Reports and Tools
A cycle-based framework for engaging local partners and systems contributes to sustainable organizational capacity development. The report provides guidance on integrating capacity development into project design as well as examples of good practices, challenges, and tools for every stage in the cycle.
Capturing Cost Data: A First-mile Problem
World Bank, August 2019
- Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
Reports and Tools
While there is plenty of guidance circulating on how to conduct a costing analysis, there is limited accessible guidance on how program designers should collect the costing data itself. To remedy this, the Strategic Impact Evaluation Fund of the World Bank is coordinating with other interested groups to develop guidance and case studies on capturing costing data. In this blog post, economist Alaka Holla walks through the preliminary considerations and challenges of collecting cost data.
The Carbon Footprint of Dietary Guidelines Around the World: A Seven Country Modeling Study
Kovacs, Brittany, Lindsey Miller, Martin C. Heller, et al. Nutrition Journal, March 2021
Research Articles
Understanding the carbon footprints of different food-based dietary guidelines can help decision-making that incorporates environmental sustainability.
Caregiver Parenting Practices, Dietary Diversity Knowledge, and Association with Early Childhood Development Outcomes among Children Aged 18–29 Months in Zanzibar, Tanzania: A Cross-Sectional Survey
Russell, Allyson L., Elizabeth Hentschel, Isabel Fulcher, et al. BMC Public Health, April 2022
- Early Childhood Development
Research Articles
Researchers found a positive association between the frequency of caregiver-child interactions and knowledge of adequate dietary diversity and early childhood development outcomes. This aligns with global evidence that promoting early stimulation, play and learning opportunities, and dietary diversity can improve developmental outcomes.
Caring for the Caregivers: A Path Towards Playful Parenting
International Step by Step Association, March 2021
Events
Building frontline worker skills to deliver strengths-based counseling increases caregiver confidence and well-being and helps caregivers develop stress management, self-care, and conflict-resolution skills. This is a webinar.
The Case for Early Child Development Programmes (a Review of the Documentary "Brain Matters")
Mushtaq, Ammara, Farooq Kazi. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health. September 25, 2019. "Brain Matters," Directed by Carlota Nelson, L9 Goodies, 2019. 72 min
- Early Childhood Development
Reports and Tools
This “Reflections” article reviews the recently released documentary by Carlota Nelson, Brain Matters. The film focuses on the first three years of life when a baby’s brain is optimized for learning, highlighting evidence that child development interventions during this period yield lifetime developmental benefits. The film details four essential “brain boosting experiences” during this period, including responsive care, language stimulation, opportunities for play, and good nutrition. The review concludes that the film offers a compelling argument in support of ECD programs.
Case Studies Show How Medical Colleges in India Can Improve the Quality of MIYCN Service Delivery
Alive & Thrive, February 2021
Reports and Tools
By revising the undergraduate curriculum and updating service delivery protocols at hospitals, medical colleges are building the capacity of future generations of medical practitioners to deliver evidence-based maternal nutrition and infant and young child nutrition services.
Case Study from Colombia: Maximizing Impact on Children through Integrated Cash-Based Programming
Save the Children, February 2020
- Nutrition in Humanitarian Contexts
Reports and Tools
In 2018, Save the Children, with support from USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance and the Office of Food for Peace, implemented a multi-purpose cash transfer “Plus” program in Colombia. The program was designed in response to the influx of Venezuelans into Colombia due to political and economic unrest. Cash transfers were meant to cover basic needs in an effort to prevent emergence of negative coping strategies, which impact child safety and nutritional status. With some complementary activities such as infant and young child feeding programs, the multi-purpose cash transfer “Plus” program was successful in diminishing the financial causes of poor water, sanitation, and hygiene and food insecurity among the target population.
Catch-up Growth is a Better Indicator of Undernutrition than Thresholds for Stunting
Scheffler Christiane, Barry Bogin, Michael Hermanussen. Public Health Nutrition, September 2020
- Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
Research Articles
This cross-sectional study among rural and urban populations with different socio-economic status found that the catch-up growth spurt following a nutrition intervention is a more sensitive indicator of past undernourishment than static thresholds for stunting. Absence of catch-up growth following re-feeding strongly indicates non-nutritional causes of stunting, including education levels and social, economic, political, and emotional circumstances.
Celebrating 40 years of the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes
Alive & Thrive, May 2021
- Food Systems
Reports and Tools
Articles focus on the history of the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes; the need to address unethical marketing and further implement and enforce the Code; and additional steps to take to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding.