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.
To celebrate this year’s World Food Day, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization published this document to provide policy recommendations for food systems that are healthy, environmentally friendly, and culturally and economically sustainable.
Empowering Women in Livestock Systems (Infographic)
Food Systems
Around the world women make up two-thirds of livestock keepers, yet they often lack access to and control over these resources. This infographic shows different ways women can be empowered across food systems and provides examples of Feed the Future activities working to do so in a variety of countries.
Affordability of the EAT-Lancet Reference Diet: A Global Analysis
Food Systems
The EAT-Lancet Commission created a global benchmark diet capable of both sustaining health and protecting the environment, but did not examine the diet’s affordability. This analysis strives to understand the diet’s cost around the world by comparing food price and household income data from 159 countries.
Nurturing Care for Small and Sick Newborns: Evidence Review and Country Case Studies
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Early Childhood DevelopmentNutrition and Health Systems
Small and sick newborns face serious risk of developmental delays, but most newborns can survive and thrive, provided they have access to quality nurturing care. This package summarizes nurturing care evidence and best practices for this population.
The Case for Early Child Development Programmes (a Review of the Documentary "Brain Matters")
Early Childhood Development
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.
Do Effects of Early Life Interventions on Linear Growth Correspond to Effects on Neurobehavioural Development? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Early Childhood Development
Linear growth and child development are often assumed to have common determinants. The authors assess this assumption through a systematic review and meta-analysis of interventions focused on length-for-age or height-for-age Z scores and child development outcomes for children 0-5 years old and during pregnancy. The researchers f
USAID Advancing Nutrition Hosts e-Consultation on Research Priorities for Food Systems and Nutrition
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Join the USAID Bureau for Food Security, USAID Advancing Nutrition, Agrilinks and the Feed the Future Nutrition Innovation Lab for an e-consultation to discuss opportunities for future research with researchers and the scientific community, implementers, donors, nongovernmental organizations, and government stakeholders.
USAID Advancing Nutrition Shares Learning at the IBFAN Conference, Brazil 2019
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USAID Advancing Nutrition is proud to join the joint meeting of the Third World Breastfeeding Conference , the First World Complementary Feeding Conference, the XV Brazilian Breastfeeding Meeting, and the V Brazilian Healthy Complementary Feeding Meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from November 11 - 15, 2019; hosted by The International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) with support
Sex, Lies, and Surveys: The Role of Interviewer Characteristics
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Monitoring, Evaluation, and LearningGender
Girls are more likely to report sexual activity to better-looking interviewers and less likely to do so with interviewers holding more discriminatory gender attitudes and greater expectations of the intervention. The study found no evidence that interviewer gender matters.
Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women: A Guide to Measurement
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Food SystemsMaternal Nutrition
Practitioners can use the Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women indicator as a proxy for micronutrient adequacy for women of reproductive age. The guide provides a new tool for assessment, target-setting, and advocacy.
Essential Nutrition Actions: Mainstreaming Nutrition throughout the Life-Course
Nutrition and Health SystemsSocial and Behavior Change and Gender
The World Health Organization has released updated Essential Nutrition Actions to mainstream nutrition throughout the life-course and support the Global Nutrition Targets 2025.
Using a Gender Lens to Understand Eating Behaviors of Adolescent Females Living in Low-income Households in Bangladesh
Social and Behavior Change and Gender
To understand individual, social, and environmental factors that influence eating behaviors of adolescent females in Bangladesh, researchers conducted this qualitative study, which found that household food insecurity, gender norms and discrimination, work and school schedules, and an inferior social position influence girls' level of psychological stress as well as food quality, quantity, and…
Participatory Agroecological Research on Climate Change Adaptation Improves Smallholder Farmer Household Food Security and Dietary Diversity in Malawi
Food SystemsMonitoring, Evaluation, and LearningSocial and Behavior Change and Gender
This four-year mixed-methods study examined the effect that agroecological farming practices can have on food security and dietary diversity in Malawi.
Is Women’s Empowerment a Pathway to Improving Child Nutrition Outcomes in a Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture Program? Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Burkina Faso
Social and Behavior Change and Gender
Women's empowerment is thought to be a critical component in improving household nutrition. To test this theory, researchers used a cluster-randomized controlled trial in Burkina Faso that examined whether empowering women in four domains--purchasing decisions, healthcare decisions, family planning decisions, and spousal communication--improves child nutritional outcomes.
Grab a Seat! Nudging Providers to Sit Improves the Patient Experience in the Emergency Department
Social and Behavior Change and Gender
Are patients in the emergency department more satisfied during a visit if the provider sits and are there ways to encourage providers to sit? These are the question researchers sought to answer in a prospective, controlled pre-post trial.
Fathers’ Experiences and Perspectives of Breastfeeding: A Scoping Review
Social and Behavior Change and Gender
The researchers conducted a scoping review across 18 international studies to determine the experiences, roles, and needs of fathers of breastfed infants and how health care providers can use this knowledge to assist, support, and engage fathers.
Building Healthy Communities at Home and Abroad: Catalyzing the Impact of the U.S. Government’s Efforts to Support Breastfeeding Families
Nutrition and Health Systems
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.
Addressing Barriers to Exclusive Breastfeeding in Nampula, Mozambique: Opportunities to Strengthen Counseling and Use of Job Aids
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Nutrition and Health Systems
In Nampula, Mozambique, exclusive breastfeeding practices are suboptimal. To reduce breastfeeding challenges in Nampula, the USAID Maternal and Child Health Survival Program conducted a study on the minimum breastfeeding competencies and practical skills needed by Nampula facility- and community-based providers.
Nutritional Interventions for Preventing Stunting in Children (Birth to 59 Months) Living in Urban Slums in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMIC)
Nutrition and Health Systems
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.