USAID Advancing Nutrition develops, curates, packages, and shares multi-sectoral nutrition knowledge to help you stay on top of developments and evidence in global nutrition programming.
Knowledge ManagementFood SafetyWater, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)
Toxins and germs that come from food, improper food preparation, and poor storage are harmful to the health of children and pregnant women. Cooking food at a safe temperature, boiling water, washing hands with soap, and enforcing food safety rules saves lives.
USAID Chief Nutritionist Shawn Baker describes the Wadata program, which provides hands-on training in natural resource management, nutrition, food preparation with local ingredients, financial literacy, and interpersonal communication.
The platform hosts videos, highlights food heroes, and describes World Food Day events. It includes a call to action for all elements of agri-food systems to collaborate more fairly, sustainably, and inclusively.
Nourishing Food Systems: The Interdependency Between Agriculture and Nutrition
Publication Date:
Food SystemsNutrition Sensitive Agriculture
Agriculture and nutrition are often siloed in terms of policy, field implementation, and economic impact. Speakers explored the interdependence between agriculture and nutrition, current challenges, and models of progress. This is a webinar.
Participants met to identify priority actions for investments in agricultural research, development, extension, and the development of an enabling policy environment. This is a webinar.
The call for action provides tips and actions that individuals, governments, private companies and corporations, schools, civil society, academia, and others can take to improve food production, nutrition, and the environment. The report is available in English, French, Italian, and Spanish.
Viewpoint: Rigorous Monitoring Is Necessary to Guide Food System Transformation In the Countdown to the 2030 Global Goals
Publication Date:
Food SystemsGrowth Monitoring and PromotionResilience
Authors propose a rigorous, science-based monitoring framework centered around diets, nutrition, and health; environment and climate; livelihoods, poverty, and equity; governance; and resilience and sustainability.
U.S. Government Global Food Security Strategy 2022–2026
Publication Date:
Food SystemsAdolescent NutritionCOVID-19Emergency NutritionFood SecurityInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Maternal NutritionNutrition Sensitive AgricultureResilience
This updated strategy responds to the challenges of the moment. Priorities include collaborating with local partners to address challenges to inclusion by intentionally engaging all actors, working to address the effects of climate change on agriculture, and adopting practices to counter the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Towards Food Systems Transformation—Five Paradigm Shifts for Healthy, Inclusive, and Sustainable Food Systems
Publication Date:
Food SystemsFood SecurityResilience
Avoiding trade-offs and building synergies among health and nutrition, inclusive livelihoods, environmental sustainability, and food system resilience requires fundamental paradigm shifts.
Systematic Evidence and Gap Map of Research Linking Food Security and Nutrition to Mental Health
Publication Date:
Food SystemsFood Security
How food security and nutrition connect with mental health has been researched, but conclusions are difficult to draw given the breadth of literature. This map visualizes the extent and nature of analytical studies focusing on the relationship, guides further research, and solidifies strategic planning.
FAO/WHO GIFT | Global Individual Food Consumption Data Tool
Publication Date:
Food SystemsFood Safety
The tool provides food-based indicators focused on nutrition and food safety to support policymakers, program planners, nongovernmental organization staff, and other stakeholders in making informed decisions.
This brief highlights the main constraints, opportunities, and leverage points to enhance food systems related to fruit and vegetable consumption, trade, processing, and production.
Reverse Thinking: Taking a Healthy Diet Perspective Towards Food Systems Transformations
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Food SystemsFood Security
A healthy diet perspective is essential to ensure food systems focus on supplying nutritious foods and providing equitable access to healthy, sustainable, and culturally acceptable diets.
Food SystemsFood SecurityNutrition Assessment, Counseling, and Support (NACS)
Fish and other aquatic foods (“blue foods”) can contribute to more sustainable diets, but comprehensive comparisons are limited because these foods are rarely included in environmental impact studies. The analysis identifies high-performing blue foods, highlights opportunities to improve environmental performance, and provides estimates to enable data-poor environmental assessments.
For Children with Disabilities, “Wait and See” Just Won't Work
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Early Childhood DevelopmentAdolescent Nutrition
It is critical for doctors, families, policymakers, and researchers to work together to support early diagnosis and intervention for children with developmental disabilities.
Early Childhood DevelopmentAdolescent NutritionEmergency Nutrition
The Children’s Climate Risk Index measures the likelihood that climate and environmental shocks or stresses will lead to the erosion of development progress, the deepening of deprivation, and humanitarian crises affecting children or vulnerable households and groups. The document is available in Arabic, English, French, and Spanish.
Maternal Resources for Care are Associated with Child Growth and Early Childhood Development in Bangladesh and Vietnam
Publication Date:
Early Childhood DevelopmentAdolescent NutritionMaternal Nutrition
Maternal height, good nourishment, mental well-being, decision-making, support in chores, and perceived social support were associated with child health and development outcomes. Interventions that help to improve resources among mothers have the potential to foster child growth and development.
Evaluation of a Community-Based Mobile Video Breastfeeding Intervention in Khayelitsha, South Africa: The Philani MOVIE Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial
Publication Date:
Early Childhood DevelopmentBreastfeedingCOVID-19
Videos were as effective as face-to-face counseling when community health workers (CHWs) used them to replace a portion of that counseling. mHealth video interventions could be a feasible and practical solution to support the delivery and scaling of community health promotion services when the CHW workforce is limited.
Associations between Women’s Empowerment and Child Development, Growth, and Nurturing Care Practices in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Demographic and Health Survey Data
Publication Date:
Early Childhood DevelopmentAdolescent NutritionGender
There is a strong association between women’s empowerment and early child cognitive development, child growth, early learning, and nutrition outcomes. Authors call for future research to explore the relationship between empowerment and socioemotional, literacy–numeracy, or physical development.