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.
Fighting Malnutrition in Ghana: How Health Workers Are Leading the Charge
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Knowledge ManagementAnemiaBreastfeedingChild NutritionGrowth Monitoring and PromotionInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Maternal NutritionNutrition Assessment, Counseling, and Support (NACS)
Training helps health workers integrate malnutrition screening and treatment into comprehensive primary health care services, conduct home visits to follow up with children being treated for malnutrition, and provide nutrition services to pregnant and breastfeeding women to prevent further childhood malnutrition.
Frontline Nutrition Services: Roles, Responsibilities, and Pre-Service Training
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Capacity StrengtheningGrowth Monitoring and PromotionInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Maternal Nutrition
A skilled workforce is critical for the provision of nutrition services at the frontline or primary care level and, ultimately, achieving better health outcomes.
Mejorando la nutrición de los niños con dificultades alimentarias y discapacidades: Una llamada a la acción para los gobiernos
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Early Childhood DevelopmentNutrition and Health SystemsBreastfeedingComplementary FeedingEarly Childhood DevelopmentInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)
Las dificultades alimentarias pueden afectar negativamente al crecimiento y desarrollo de los niños, así como a su calidad de vida y la de sus familias.
Améliorer la nutrition des enfants ayant des difficultés d’alimentation et des handicaps: Appel à l’action pour les décideurs politiques
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Early Childhood DevelopmentNutrition and Health SystemsWastingBreastfeedingComplementary FeedingEarly Childhood DevelopmentInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)
Les difficultés d'alimentation peuvent avoir un impact négatif sur la croissance et le développement des enfants, ainsi que sur leur qualité de vie et celle de leur famille.
Focusing on Social Norms: A Practical Guide for Nutrition Programmers to Improve Women’s and Children’s Diets
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Social and Behavior Change and GenderChild NutritionGenderInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Maternal Nutrition
This guide provides insights on how to identify social and gender norms that influence dietary practices, to improve norm-responsive programming, and to monitor and measure shifts in norms. The guide includes worksheets and a social norms checklist.
Impacts of a Social and Behavior Change Communication Program Implemented at Scale on Infant and Young Feeding Practices in Nigeria: Results of a Cluster-Randomized Evaluation
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Social and Behavior Change and GenderBreastfeedingInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)
Results showed weak impacts of the Alive & Thrive social and behavior change communication intervention on early initiation of breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding, and minimum dietary diversity in Nigeria, but spillover of the intervention to the comparison group may have muted the results.
Development and Validation of a Health and Nutrition Module for the Project‐Level Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro‐WEAI+HN)
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Social and Behavior Change and GenderBreastfeedingChild NutritionGenderInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Maternal NutritionNutrition Sensitive Agriculture
Adding a health- and nutrition-related agency module to the project-level Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI) produced seven distinct indicators. Using these indicators could strengthen the evidence base about how nutrition-sensitive agricultural development programs enhance women's empowerment to improve health and nutrition.
Lessons Learned From Integrating Infant and Young Child Feeding Counseling and Iron-Folic Acid Distribution Into Routine Immunization Services in Ethiopia
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Nutrition and Health SystemsInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)
Although health workers initially struggle with the responsibilities associated with integrating services, their planning, reporting, and service delivery improves after receiving technical assistance. Integration helps maintain a focus on both programs and complete infant and young child feeding counseling more regularly.
Impact Evaluation of a Community Nutrition and Livelihood Program on Child Nutrition in Rural Bangladesh
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Nutrition and Health SystemsChild NutritionInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Maternal Nutrition
Adding an economic development component to the Positive Deviant/Hearth program significantly increases income and dietary diversity among young children and mothers, promotes household food security, and diversifies crop production.
How COVID-19 Affected Food Systems, Health Service Delivery, and Maternal and Infant Nutrition Practices: Implications for Moving Forward in Kenya
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Food SystemsNutrition and Health SystemsBreastfeedingCOVID-19Food SystemsInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Maternal Nutrition
In Kenya, fear of infection and government lockdowns reduces health service uptake, a lack of clear guidance delayed breastfeeding, and increased mother-child separation following delivery among COVID-19-positive women.
USAID Advancing Nutrition Presents at the 2022 International Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) Summit
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Knowledge ManagementChild NutritionGrowth Monitoring and PromotionInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Maternal NutritionPrivate-Sector Engagement
Summit topics include generating demand for healthy diets, supporting local leadership skills development for social and behavior change (SBC), and prioritizing behaviors for effective multi-sectoral nutrition SBC. Accompanying resources include posters and slide decks.
USAID Advancing Nutrition @ 22nd International Congress of Nutrition
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Knowledge ManagementChild NutritionCOVID-19Growth Monitoring and PromotionInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Maternal NutritionMicronutrient InterventionsNutrition Assessment, Counseling, and Support (NACS)
Presentations focus on tools to improve the quantity of infant and young child feeding (IYCF) counseling, small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplement programs, food taboos and preferences among women, the knowledge and skills needed to counsel on IYCF during and after illness, nutritional care for children with feeding difficulties and disabilities, and using child growth monitoring and prom
Getting to 2030: Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition Technical Roadmap
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Knowledge ManagementChild NutritionInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Maternal NutritionWater, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)
This roadmap supports a coordinated, strategic approach to strengthening essential services and health systems for women and children and informs the development, measurement, and adjustment of country level strategic plans.
La Revolution des Algues: A Seaweed Revolution for a New Future in Sustainable Food Systems
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Food SystemsFood SystemsGenderInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Maternal NutritionNutrition Sensitive AgricultureResilience
A new book suggests seaweed could play a significant role in increasing food and nutrition security; mitigating climate change and biodiversity loss; and increasing sustainable job creation, economic growth, and gender equality.
Food Inflation and Child Undernutrition in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
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Food SystemsAdolescent NutritionChild NutritionInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Maternal Nutrition
Food inflation increases the risk of wasting and severe wasting in infants and older children, especially male children and those from poor and rural households. Food inflation during pregnancy and in the first year after birth increases the risk of stunting in children aged two to five years. Interventions to prevent food inflation and mitigate its impacts are critical.
Complementary Feeding in Emergencies Programming—Yemen Case Study
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WastingBreastfeedingComplementary FeedingEmergency NutritionInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)
This USAID Advancing Nutrition case study argues that donors and decision makers need a greater understanding of the importance of complementary feeding and that the humanitarian response must be balanced to improve and scale both preventive and curative nutrition efforts. Integration with other sectors, such as food security and livelihoods, may enhance opportunities to engage men.
Supporting Children with Feeding Difficulties and Disabilities in Nutrition Programs: Tools for Action Webinar
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Early Childhood DevelopmentInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)
The Feeding and Disability Resource Bank is a collection of resources that addresses feeding difficulties and encourages disability inclusion in nutrition programs. This is a webinar with simultaneous interpretation in American Sign Language, French, and Spanish.
Nurturing Care and Men's Engagement: Thematic Brief
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Early Childhood DevelopmentBreastfeedingGenderInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)Maternal Nutrition
The engagement of men is associated with higher levels of antenatal, childbirth, and postnatal care, better infant and mother nutrition, higher rates of exclusive breastfeeding, and a reduction of postpartum depression and violence against women and children.
Improving Nutrition among Children with Feeding Difficulties and Disabilities: Call to Action for Policymakers
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Early Childhood DevelopmentWastingBreastfeedingComplementary FeedingInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)
Improving competencies among health professionals, ensuring inclusion in social protection and food supplementation program eligibility criteria, revising guidelines and care protocols, and ensuring that disability-inclusive nutrition programs are included in government- and donor-funded guidance documents are critical to improving nutrition among children with feeding difficulties and disabili
Is Infant and Young Child-feeding (IYCF) a Potential Double-Duty Strategy to Prevent the Double Burden of Malnutrition among Children at the Critical Age? Evidence of Association from Urban Slums in Pune, Maharashtra, India
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Nutrition in Humanitarian ContextsWastingBreastfeedingComplementary FeedingInfant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN)
This study finds that boys in India had higher rates of stunting and wasting, and bottle feeding increased the odds of wasting, severe stunting, underweight, and obesity. Bottle feeding increased the odds of wasting and severe stunting, and delaying the introduction of complementary feeding increased the odds of severe stunting. Child minimum dietary standards were rarely achieved.