Nutrition is essential to child development and wellbeing and under-nutrition remains an underlying cause of prolonged illness and mortality in under-five children. Despite this reality, children receive nutrition and disease-specific interventions through different health care platforms.
The Nutrition and Child Health subgroup aims to advocate for, and provide evidence-based approaches to, integrating Essential Nutrition Actions (ENA), including care for children with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM). The subgroup emphasizes the need to link disease-specific actions (promotion, prevention, and case management) and nutrition-related interventions through the continuum of care from the household to the facility level. The subgroup will build on its effort to increase the coverage of comprehensive nutrition programs, including care for children with SAM, at the community level.
Goal
To strengthen equitable and comprehensive nutrition programs - focused on ENA and including care for children with SAM - through primary health care, inclusive of community health systems.
Objectives
- Collate and disseminate tools, guidelines and evidence on integration of early detection and treatment of acute malnutrition (severe and moderate wasting) into health services (e.g. Family MUAC, iCCM plus Nutrition), at community and facility levels.
- Coordinate and support partners' (subgroup members and others) efforts to scale-up promotion of infant and young child feeding through health systems, both at community and facility level, and in development and humanitarian contexts.
- Facilitate the sharing of best practices from countries that have successfully integrated ECD and nutrition interventions at the community level.
- Provide a platform for members to discuss current evidence on interventions to prevent child wasting, with a particular focus on the early stages of life.
Leadership
Chairs:
- Akriti Singh, Helen Keller Intl
- Adugna Yimam, Action Against Hunger