Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition

Galleries

Photo of two women writing notes at a table: The study team presented the implementation process, environmental and contextual factors that enabled and limited success of the Package, outcomes from training health workers and community volunteers in the Package, and impact on maternal knowledge, attitudes, and practices.

Analyzing Findings and Developing Recommendations with Stakeholders in Nigeria

In collaboration with UNICEF and the Nigeria Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH), SPRING carried out an evaluation of the Community Infant and Young Child Feeding (C-IYCF) Counselling Package

Keywords: Social and behavior change communication, Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition
Location: Nigeria
A couple talks to a visitor about growing Indian spinach. The couple explains that their Indian spinach sells quickly in the market. Consumers know how the spinach is grown and that the plant is nutritious. Photo credit: Sarah Hogan, 2017

Growing Spinach for Nutrition: Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture Community Video in India

Under the UPAVAN project, SPRING and Digital Green create community videos promoting nutrition-sensitive agriculture practices in Odisha, India.

Keywords: Agriculture, Dietary diversity, Communication, Complementary feeding, Nutrition-sensitive, Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition, Nutrient-dense crops, Handwashing, Infant and young child feeding, Water, sanitation, and hygiene, Social and behavior change communication
Location: India
Photo: SPRING/Senegal nutrition advisor, Mariam Sy, speaks to guests about SPRING’s accomplishments in nutrition, gender and hygiene at one of the stands set up to showcase project achievements.

SPRING/Senegal Celebrates End of 18 Months of Implementation with Close-out Ceremonies in Kaolack and Dakar

SPRING/Senegal organized two close-out ceremonies to mark the end of 18 months of implementation – one in Kaolack and one in Dakar. Both ceremonies showcased the project’s work in nutrition...

Keywords: Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition, Nutrition-sensitive, Social and behavior change communication, Gender, Water, sanitation, and hygiene
Location: Senegal
The SPRING/Guinea and Sierra Leone teams.

Collaborating across Borders: SPRING/Sierra Leone Staff Visit SPRING/Guinea for Learning Exchange

In May 2017, staff from SPRING/Sierra Leone visited Faranah, Guinea to learn about SPRING/Guinea.

Keywords: Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition, Agriculture, Community media, Communication, Nutrition-specific, Nutrition-sensitive
Location: Guinea, Sierra Leone
Members of one of SPRING’s partner women’s groups pose for a photo outside of their community garden.

Community Partners' Projects Visit in Senegal

A USAID and SPRING team observed the results of SPRING’s partnership approach at the community level.

Keywords: Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition, Social and behavior change communication, Mass media, Dietary diversity, Gender
Location: Senegal
A group works together to practice proper breastfeeding techniques.

SPRING Maternal, Infant and Young Child Nutrition and Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture Training for Peace Corps Volunteers in Guinea

SPRING/Guinea conducted a training for Peace Corps health and agroforestry volunteers in Guinea on maternal, infant, and young child nutrition and nutrition-sensitive agriculture practices.

Keywords: Agriculture, Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition, Nutrition-sensitive, Training
Location: Guinea
All of the workshop participants display their completion certificates.

Training Community Video and Radio Staff in Guinea on MIYCN and Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture

SPRING trained community video and radio staff on maternal, infant, and young child nutrition (MIYCN) and nutrition-sensitive agriculture in Mamou, Guinea.

Keywords: Agriculture, Community media, Maternal nutrition, Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition, Communication, Nutrition-sensitive, Nutrition-specific, Social and behavior change communication, Training
Location: Guinea

News

Thumbnail image of the group photo of meeting attendees.

Engaging Stakeholders in Analyzing Findings and Developing Recommendations

In collaboration with UNICEF and the Nigeria Federal Ministry of Health, SPRING carried out an evaluation of the Community Infant and Young Child Feeding (C-IYCF) Counselling Package in...

Keywords: Community mobilization, Social and behavior change communication, Thousand days, Sustainability, Training, Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition, Integration, Infant and young child feeding, Stunting
Location: Nigeria
Image featuring icons accompanying the text: Planning and implementation of the C-IYCF Counselling Package, Skills and knowledge of health workers and community volunteers, maternal knowledge, attitudes and practices, and factors that enable or limit impact of the C-IYCF Counselling Package.

Sharing the results of the Nigeria C-IYCF Counselling Package Evaluation

On January 31st, 2018 SPRING staff and consultant, on behalf of the study team, shared the findings from the evaluation of the C-IYCF Counselling Package in Nigeria with partners at the...

Keywords: Social and behavior change communication, Communication, Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition
Location: Nigeria
Photo of a group filming a community video.

SPRING Places in Top Three for Zilient’s 2017 Resilience Awards

SPRING’s community video approach in the Sahel places third in award that recognizes unique and compelling projects that impact real lives.

Keywords: Community, Community media, Handwashing, Resiliency, Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition
Location: Sahel
Roundtable participants stand in a line and smile at the camera

SPRING Disseminates Program Survey Results at Round Table Event

SPRING/Kyrgyz Republic hosted a round table event to disseminate findings from a series of four surveys, including gains in nutrition outcome indicators.

Keywords: Anemia, Agriculture, Thousand days, Breastfeeding, Complementary feeding, Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition, Dietary diversity
Location: Kyrgyz Republic
A group of artists gathers around the trainer who is demonstrating how to trace an image.

SPRING Hosts Photo-to-Illustration Workshop in Guinea

This workshop provided guidance on developing high-quality visuals for partner organizations in Guinea and Sierra Leone.

Keywords: Communication, Infant and young child feeding, Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition, Social and behavior change communication, Training
Location: Guinea, Sierra Leone
A man and woman stand in front of the camera. The woman looks ahead, the man looks and smiles at their baby in his arms

USAID and SPRING/Senegal Staff Visit Community Partners’ Projects

The group visited one of SPRING’s partner radio stations, micro-gardens, and chicken coops, and observed a community video dissemination.

Keywords: Handwashing, Agriculture, Nutrition-sensitive, Gender, Community media, Dietary diversity, Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition, Social and behavior change communication
Location: Senegal
One man kneels and looks at the screen of a video camera. Two women and two men lean over his shoulder to also see the screen.

SPRING Shares SBC Approaches for Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture in Guinea at ICTforAg2017

SPRING shared its SPRING/Guinea Social and Behavior Change (SBC) approaches at the ICTforAg 2017 conference during a session entitled "Multi-Channel Communications in Hard-to-Reach Places."

Keywords: Agriculture, Community media, Food security, Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition, Nutrition-sensitive, Nutrition-specific, Social and behavior change communication
Location: Guinea
Accepting an award

Health Facilities Commit to Improving Services for New Mothers and Babies in the Kyrgyz Republic

SPRING/Kyrgyz Republic supports three new facilities in Naryn and Jalalabad to receive Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative certification.

Keywords: Breastfeeding, Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition
Location: Kyrgyz Republic
A group of fathers sits in chairs under a tree while one man uses a flip chart of good health behaviors to conduct a training.

Supporting Fathers and Empowering Families in Ghana

Father-to-Father support groups encourage men to take an active role in the health and nutrition of their families.

Keywords: Community mobilization, Communication, Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition, Gender, Social and behavior change communication, Training, Women's empowerment
Location: Ghana
Women look at SPRING learning materials

SPRING Emphasizes Nutrition as an Integral Component of Community Health in the ICHC 2017

Gwyneth Cotes and Sascha Lamstein to share SPRING’s work at the Institutionalizing Community Health Conference 2017 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Keywords: Community media, Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition
Location: South Africa
Screenshot of the tool page

Expert Reviewers Offer Support for SPRING’s Guidance for Conducting an Anemia Landscape Analysis

Expert input has enhanced SPRING’s guidance tool for assessing anemia at a national level.

Keywords: Anemia, Dietary diversity, Family planning, Fortification, Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition, Nutrition-related non-communicable disease, Nutrition-sensitive, Nutrition-specific, Supplementation, Water, sanitation, and hygiene

Success Stories

Photo of a mother, her child, and a nurse at a health facility looking at information on nutrition. Caption: "Mairam Usupova, Head Nurse at the Family Group Practice in Naryn, counsels a mother on maternal nutrition and dietary diversity.

Supportive Supervision Brings Better Health Services to the Kyrgyz Republic

In 2015, the USAID-funded SPRING project began working with the MOH to improve infant and young child feeding (IYCF) and anemia counseling for patients in health facilities in Naryn and...

Keywords: Infant and young child feeding, Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition
Location: Kyrgyz Republic

Events

Illustrated image of two adolescent girls.

Stakeholders Consultation on Adolescent Girls’ Nutrition: Evidence, Guidance, and Gaps

Keywords: Adolescents, Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition
Location: Pan American Health Organization, Washington, DC

Briefs

A grandmother helps her young granddaughter eat her food with a spoon.

SPRING in the Kyrgyz Republic: Evidence of Significant Improvement in Nutrition Practices

During 2014–2017, SPRING undertook four surveys in the target areas to gain knowledge on the current status of a range of indicators related to the nutrition practices among women and...

Location: Kyrgyz Republic
Figure 2: Dietary Diversity Score of Women

Bangladesh: Farmer Nutrition School Cohort Study - Technical Brief

To better understand which behaviors were changing and which behavior changes were sustained following the end of the direct FNS intervention, SPRING undertook a mixed-methods cohort study...

Location: Bangladesh

Reports

A Bangladeshi woman sits on a blanket with her two young children. There is a plate of food on the blanket and she is holding out her hand with food in it to feed the younger child.

Bangladesh: Farmer Nutrition School Cohort Study

To measure changes plausibly brought about by the FNS program when implemented at scale, this study surveyed a cohort of women who participated in the FNS curriculum beginning in November...

Keywords: Farmer nutrition school, Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition
Location: Bangladesh
A mother holds her baby up in the air. Both look happy. The mother smiles at the baby. The baby smiles at the camera.

Bangladesh: Final Country Report

SPRING implemented an innovative, scalable, and sustainable community-based, multi-channel, integrated nutrition program between April 2012 and June 2017 in Bangladesh.

Keywords: Agriculture, Anemia, Farmer nutrition school, Women's empowerment, Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition
Location: Bangladesh

Videos

A father grins at his infant. He holds the baby in his lap and supports its neck.

Why Couples Are Championing Gender Equity in Senegal

SPRING’s Gender Champion Approach aims to increase men and women’s partnership within the household in order to impact nutrition outcomes.

Keywords: Gender, Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition
Location: Senegal
Photo to Illustration Tutorial intro slide

Photo to Illustration Tutorial

This tutorial demonstrates the steps of the technical process, from reference photography to line drawing, color, volume, patterns, and a final image for layout. Both program managers and...

Keywords: Training, Infant and young child feeding, Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition, Water, sanitation, and hygiene, Social and behavior change communication
We see the legs of a seated mother and baby with the main focus of the picture on a bowl of diverse fruits and vegetables she is feeding her child.

Community Video (Niger): La Malnutrition est Reversible Quand On Reagit a Temps

The men and women discuss how to reverse malnutrition and the urgency of treatment. 

Keywords: Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition, Community media
Location: Niger, Sahel
Videographers film a woman and her child

Utilisation de la vidéo communautaire pour améliorer la nutrition au Sahel en Afrique

Cette vidéo présente le processus et l’impact de l’approche de la vidéo communautaire pour la nutrition au Niger et au Burkina Faso.

Keywords: Community media, Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition, Water, sanitation, and hygiene
Location: Burkina Faso, Niger
Videographers film a woman and her child

Using Community-led Video to Improve Nutrition in the African Sahel

This video shares the process and impact of SPRING’s community video approach for nutrition in Niger and Burkina Faso.

Keywords: Community media, Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition, Water, sanitation, and hygiene
Location: Niger, Burkina Faso
Hassya and her son eating

Hassya’s Story: Community Video for Nutrition in Niger

Hassya Ibrahim, a woman from Naki Karfi village in Niger’s Maradi Region, has been attending SPRING community video disseminations for 12 months.  In this video she shares how the video...

Keywords: Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition, Water, sanitation, and hygiene, Community media
Location: Niger

Pages

Resource Review Summaries

Integrating and Strengthening Nutrition in Agriculture and Maternal and Child Health Programs in Guatemala: A Report on FANTA Activities from 2011 to 2017

FANTA’s legacy report highlights six years of technical assistance in Guatemala aiming to raise awareness of the need to invest in evidence-based nutrition services; strengthen...

Keywords: Agriculture, Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition
Location: Guatemala

Women, Village Chickens, and Animal Source Food Consumption in Timor-Leste

In this blog, Johanna Wong, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Sydney, shares research findings from Timor-Leste about the promoters and inhibitors of animal source food consumption in...

Keywords: Agriculture, Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition, Gender
Location: East Timor

Priority Interventions to Improve Maternal and Child Diets in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia- Maternal and Child Nutrition

Nutrition-sensitive interventions to improve overall diet quality are increasingly needed to improve maternal and child health. This study demonstrates feasibility of a structured process...

Keywords: Nutrition-sensitive, Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition

CORE Group Global Health Practitioner Conference Spring 2017

CORE Group will host the Spring 2017 Global Health Practitioner Conference, Integrated Approaches: The Social and Behavior Change (SBC) Key to Community Health, on April 20 – 21, 2017 in...

Keywords: Anemia, Social and behavior change communication, Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition

Background Study on Empowering Women through Investment in Livestock Value Chains: A Pathway for Improving Maternal and Child Nutrition in Northern Kenya

Approaches that improve women’s engagement in livestock value chains and their impact on women’s empowerment and maternal and child nutrition (MCN) can be powerful in improving women’s and...

Keywords: Agriculture, Women's empowerment, Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition
Location: Kenya

Improving Dietary Diversity to Enhance Women’s and Children’s Nutritional Status in Guatemala’s Western Highlands: Recommendations for the Guatemalan Agriculture Sector

The agriculture sector has a significant role to play in improving the nutritional status of women and children. Strengthening the link between agriculture and nutrition is critical to...

Keywords: Agriculture, Dietary diversity, Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition, Nutrient-dense crops
Location: Guatemala

Adapting Agriculture Platforms for Nutrition: A Case Study of a Participatory, Video-Based Agricultural Extension Platform in India

This study examines the feasibility of delivering maternal, infant, and young child nutrition behavior change communication through an innovative agricultural extension program serving...

Keywords: Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition, Social and behavior change communication, Agriculture
Location: India

Planning an Integrated Agriculture and Health Program and Designing its Evaluation: Experience from Western Kenya

In response to persistently poor maternal, newborn and child health indicators in low income countries, governments, non-governmental organizations and international donors have intensified...

Keywords: Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition, Multi-sector, Agriculture
Location: Kenya

Improving Women’s Nutrition Imperative for Rapid Reduction of Childhood Stunting in South Asia: Coupling of Nutrition Specific Interventions with Nutrition Sensitive Measures Essential

Reducing stunting in South Asia requires the coordination of nutrition-sensitive and nutrition-specific interventions, especially measures that lead to improved nutritional status for...

Keywords: Nutrition-sensitive, Nutrition-specific, Adolescents, Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition, Agriculture

First 1,000 Days

In his new book, journalist Roger Thurow tells stories of mothers and babies worldwide to explore the effort to end childhood malnutrition. Thurow highlights the importance of proper...

Keywords: Thousand days, Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition, Agriculture
Location: Uganda, India, Guatemala, United States

What Drives and Constrains Effective Leadership in Tackling Child Undernutrition? Findings from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India and Kenya

Strong leadership has been identified as a common element of success within countries that have made rapid progress in tackling child and maternal undernutrition. This study of 89...

Keywords: Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition

Agricultural Interventions for Improved Nutrition: A Review of Livelihood and Environmental Dimensions

After reviewing 42 evaluations of agricultural interventions for improved maternal and child nutrition, the authors of this article identify three intervention typologies – enhancement,...

Keywords: Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition, Agriculture

Nutrition Focus at the 68th World Health Assembly, May 16-18, 2015

The 68th World Health Assembly (WHA) was held in Geneva, Switzerland, bringing together World Health Organization Member States to focus on key milestones for nutrition toward achieving the...

Keywords: Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition

Multi-sectoral Approaches to Nutrition: Nutrition-Specific and Nutrition-Sensitive Interventions to Accelerate Progress

This overview from the Maternal and Young Child Nutrition Security Initiative in Asia outlines linkages between nutrition and a variety of development sectors. The brief re-examines the...

Keywords: Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition, Multi-sector, Malnutrition, Nutrition-specific, Nutrition-sensitive
Location: Asia