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Welcome to the archives of Malnutrition Deeply. While we paused regular publication of the site on September 1, 2018, we are happy to serve as an ongoing public resource on malnutrition. We hope you’ll enjoy the reporting and analysis that was produced by our dedicated community of editors and contributors.
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Exploring the impact of malnutrition on maternal and child health
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Less than half of all mothers globally breastfeed their newborns within an hour of birth, despite international recommendations to do so. Officials are looking at how to draw attention to this issue, and to improve exclusive breastfeeding rates.
Partnerships are key in encouraging exclusive breastfeeding among vulnerable communities, Kathleen Pellechia, nutrition knowledge management specialist at Alive & Thrive, tells us.
Malnutrition Deeply asked nutrition experts and practitioners about the history of U.S. opposition to breastfeeding and how the lessons from the WHA will help guide their future approach to this issue.
Mary D’Alimonte Senior Program Officer at Results for Development
Jack Clift Program Director at Results for Development
Results for Development researchers emphasize the need to leverage the Investment Framework for Nutrition to scale up nutrition-specific interventions and get smarter and more systematic about nutrition-sensitive projects in other sectors.
In India, over half of adolescent girls are anemic. Many are never treated, though, because health systems ignore them.
Brazil’s successful milk bank system, which relies on donated milk, is now being adopted across Latin America.
Gerda Verburg, coordinator of the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement, also said there is an important role for the private sector to play in global efforts to end malnutrition, although the companies must adhere to international standards.
Nutrition advocates have accused the U.S. of siding with private sector interests, sparking a controversy over what they assumed would be a routine effort to provide advice on breastfeeding and the use of breast milk substitutes.
Maaike Arts, a nutrition specialist with UNICEF, explains why low- and middle-income countries have higher rates of breastfeeding and what policies might be introduced to encourage the practice in the developed world.
Elizabeth Zehner Project Director, Helen Keller International’s Assessment & Research on Child Feeding (ARCH) project
The latest Access to Nutrition Index shows that infant formula manufacturers are inconsistent when implementing polices. The private sector must step up, writes Elizabeth Zehner, director of the Assessment & Research on Child Feeding project at Helen Keller International.
In the second part of our series on cash transfers, we explore how opposition to an experiment made the Indian government confront the drawbacks and look for lessons for future interventions.
Members of Malnutrition Deeply’s expert community share their key takeaways from the recently concluded Social and Behavior Change Communication Summit in Bali.
Efforts to meet nutrition needs with eggs have run afoul of some lunch providers who say including the food would violate their cultural beliefs.
New parents say they do not have the resources or the knowledge to provide their children with the nutrition they need. And the government has no strategy to assist them.
To encourage exclusive breastfeeding, Egyptian officials are limiting access to subsidized formula. But some mothers say the government has gone too far in restricting their choice.
Women in the developing world are increasingly suffering from obesity. Experts aren’t exactly sure why – or what to do about it.
India is not a signatory to international refugee conventions, which it is using as a cover to prevent Rohingya from accessing programs that would help them with food and healthcare.
The nutrition community is focused on consolidating gains made in 2017, while developing new partnerships, spurring new innovations and ensuring no one is left behind.
Zimbabwean officials want the food industry to help solve the country’s micronutrient shortages by fortifying popular products. The companies say the cost is too high.
As aid agencies grapple with rising rates of severe acute malnutrition in Yemen, they are encouraging mothers to turn to exclusive breastfeeding – a strategy that has come in for criticism in nearby conflicts.
Malnutrition doesn’t begin or end with stunted toddlers. Nearly 800 million people are going hungry – an intergenerational cycle of undernutrition with severe consequences. Solving it requires women’s empowerment.
Steve Godfrey Chief Investment Officer, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition
The U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals make up an ambitious new agenda. But Steve Godfrey of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition writes that unless there is investment in improving the nutritional health of women and girls, many of the goals will never be realized.
From barely regulated marketing to a lack of healthcare services, there are many factors that make it difficult for mothers in developing countries to breastfeed their babies. The solution, say experts, requires more than just saying “breast is best.”
France Bégin Senior Nutrition Adviser for Infant and Young Child Nutrition, UNICEF headquarters in New York
More than half of all newborns are not breastfed in the first hour after birth – which could be the difference between life and death. More needs to be done to help women make informed choices about breastfeeding, writes UNICEF’s France Begin.
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