Menon, Purnima

Scott, Samuel

Nguyen, Phuong Hong

Sarswat, Esha

Singh, Nishmeet

Singh, S. K.

Sarwal, Rakesh

Bhatia, Neena

Johnston, Robert

Joe, William

This Data Note describes the trends for a set of key nutrition and health outcomes, determinants, and coverage of interventions. The findings are based on estimates using unit-level data, data from national and state reports from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-3 (2005-2006) and NFHS-4 (2015-2016), and data from state factsheets and reports from NFHS-5 (2019-2021). In addition to standard prevalence-based analyses, this Data Note includes headcount-based analyses aligned to the POSHAN Abhiyaan monitoring framework to provide evidence that helps identify priority districts and number of districts in the state with public health concern as per the WHO guidelines. The Data Note includes a color-coded dashboard to compare the coverage of nutrition interventions across all the districts in the state. It concludes with key takeaways for children, women, and men, and identifies areas where the state has potential to improve.

State nutrition profile: Gujarat

Neupane, Sumanta

Jangid, Manita

Kim, Sunny S.

Murira, Zivai

Torlesse, Harriet

The World Health Organization (WHO) and other global nutrition and health agencies recommend nutrition actions across the life-course to address malnutrition in all its forms. In this report, we examined how Maldives’ nutrition policies and programs addressed recommended nutrition actions, determinants, and outcomes. We reviewed population-based surveys and assess the availability of data on nutrition actions, nutrition outcomes, and the determinants of these outcomes. Our policy review identified a total of 53 recommended evidence-based nutrition actions; of these, 49 nutrition actions were applicable in Maldives and 31 were addressed in the country’s nutrition policies and programs. The Maldives nutrition plan (the Integrated National Nutrition Strategic Plan, or INNSP) recognized and addressed all key determinants of nutrition except women’s status (appropriate age of marriage/childbirth) and infectious diseases; the country’s nutrition plan aimed to track progress on all nutrition outcome indicators. Our data review found that of 31 actions addressed by policies and programs, population-based surveys contained data on only 22 actions. Neither of the population-based surveys contained data on a range of actions, including advice on consuming iron and folic acid (IFA) during pregnancy, support for early initiation of breastfeeding and immediate skin-to-skin contact, optimal feeding of low-birth-weight infants, counseling of mothers of low-birth-weight infants on kangaroo mother care (KMC) during delivery and postpartum period, counseling on infant and young child feeding (IYCF), growth monitoring, and counseling after growth monitoring during early childhood. The population-based surveys contained data on most of the indicators for immediate and underlying determinants; indicators that were not available included maternal dietary diversity during pregnancy, household food insecurity, and coverage under social protection schemes. With the exception of anemia among non-pregnant women, data on all nutrition outcomes was available in population-based surveys. In conclusion, Maldives should consider updating its national policies and programs to address existing gaps in recommended nutrition actions; in addition, future population-based surveys may also need to be revised to fill identified data gaps around nutrition actions and determinants.

Are data available for tracking progress on nutrition policies, programs, and outcomes in Maldives?

Avula, Rasmi

Pant, Anjali

Mathews, Pratima

Appropriate nutrition during early life, coming mainly from adequate infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices, is essential for optimal growth and development. This Data Note describes the trends and patterns in key IYCF practices and food consumption patterns among children, summarizing state and district data from the third and fourth rounds of National Family Health Surveys (2006 & 2016).

Feeding India's babies: Trends and patterns in infant and young child feeding practices across India's states and districts

Constantinides, Shilpa

Kohli, Neha

India comprises one-sixth of the world’s population and one-third of the global burden of undernutrition. Between 2006 and 2016, India made progress in reducing stunting among children below five years; the progress, however, has not been uniform across all its states (Menon et al. 2018). There are interstate differences in stunting reduction despite a common national policy framework for nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive programs. Given the paucity of insights on what factors drive successful change in nutritional outcomes such as stunting at the state level in India, we conducted studies in the four states of Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Odisha, and Tamil Nadu. In this report, we document the story of change in Tamil Nadu, which is one of the exemplary states in India. With a long history of nutrition and health reforms, it stands out as a leader in social development. We aimed to update prior work on Tamil Nadu to assess more recent changes in nutritional outcomes, determinants, and coverage of interventions. Our key goals were to: 1) examine changes in child stunting, known determinants of stunting and key health and nutrition interventions between 1992 and 2016; 2) assess the contribution of diverse determinants and intervention coverage changes to the changes in stunting between 2006 and 2016; and (3) interpret the changes in the context of policies, programs, and other changes in the state.

How childhood stunting reduced in Tamil Nadu: An analysis of change between 1992 and 2016

Tran, Lan M.

Mani, Subha

Nguyen, Phuong H.

This report aims to provide a general overview of national trends and of state-level variability in nutrition outcomes, determinants, and intervention coverage, thus helping to identify areas of progress and areas where more investment is critical to accelerate progress. Using data available at the time of analysis and writing, the goal of this report is to bring together data to support policy decisions for nutrition at the national level and across multiple states.

Trends in Nutrition Outcomes, Determinants, and Interventions in India (2006–2016)

The World Health Organization (WHO) and other global nutrition and health agencies recommend nutrition actions throughout the life-course to address malnutrition in all its forms. In this report, we examined how Sri Lanka’s nutrition policies and programs addressed the recommended nutrition actions, determinants, and outcomes. We reviewed population-based surveys to assess the availability of data on nutrition actions, nutrition outcomes, and determinants of these outcomes; we also assessed the data availability in administrative data systems for selected nutrition actions. Our policy review identified a total of 53 recommended evidence-based nutrition actions, of which 47 nutrition actions were applicable in Sri Lanka; of these, 44 were addressed in the country’s nutrition policies and programs. Nutrition actions not included in current policies and programs were food supplementation during adolescence and food supplementation for complementary feeding during early childhood. Although policies addressed daily or intermittent iron and folic acid (IFA) supplementation during preconception, the country’s preconception care program has not yet implemented it. Sri Lanka’s multisectoral nutrition plan recognized and addressed all key determinants of nutrition except women’s status; the country’s multisectoral nutrition plan and its national nutrition policy were found to also express an intent to track the progress of all Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) nutrition targets for maternal, infant, and young child nutrition and also the indicators related to non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Our data review found that out of 44 actions that were addressed by Sri Lanka’s policies and programs, the population-based surveys we reviewed contained data on only 22 actions; similarly, out of 15 selected actions we reviewed in the administrative data system, data was available on only five actions. Data was not available in either of the surveys on the following interventions: various types of counseling during pregnancy, optimal timing (delayed) of umbilical cord clamping, indicators related to newborn care and care of low-birth-weight infants, postpartum IFA supplementation and breastfeeding counseling and around delivery and in the postpartum period, counseling on infant and young child feeding (IYCF), growth monitoring and identification and treatment of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) and moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) during early childhood. In the administrative data source data was not available on IFA supplementation, nutrition counseling and advice on consuming IFA during pregnancy, IFA supplementation during lactation, micronutrient powders (MNPs) and zinc supplementation and on identification and management of SAM and MAM during early childhood. Population-based surveys contained data on most of the indicators on determinants and on all indicators on outcomes. In conclusion, Sri Lanka’s policy landscape for nutrition is robust; however, the gaps in data availability for tracking progress on nutrition are much greater than are the gaps in policies and programs for addressing recommended actions. Future population-based surveys and future modifications of other data systems should aim to fill the identified data gaps for nutrition actions.

Are data available for tracking progress on nutrition policies, programs, and outcomes in Sri Lanka?

Saltzman, Amy

Birol, Ekin

Wiesman, Doris

Prasai, Nilam

Yohannes, Yisehac

Thompson, Jennifer

With one more year before the 2015 deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals, the 2014 Global Hunger Index report offers a multifaceted overview of global hunger that brings new insights to the global debate on where to focus efforts in the fight against hunger and malnutrition. The state of hunger in developing countries as a group has improved since 1990, falling by 39 percent, according to the 2014 GHI. Despite progress made, the level of hunger in the world is still serious, with 805 million people continuing to go hungry, according to estimates by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The global average obscures dramatic differences across regions and countries. Regionally, the highest GHI scoresand therefore the highest hunger levelsare in Africa south of the Sahara and South Asia, which have also experienced the greatest absolute improvements since 2005. South Asia saw the steepest absolute decline in GHI scores since 1990. Progress in addressing child underweight was the main factor behind the improved GHI score for the region since 1990.

The challenge of hidden hunger

2014 Global Hunger Index

Menon, Purnima

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