The SPRING project worked with the World Health Organization (WHO) Evidence and Programme Guidance Unit, Department of Nutrition for Health and Development, to develop Guideline: Implementing Effective Actions for Improving Adolescent Nutrition. This guideline summarizes global, evidence-informed recommendations and principles from the WHO that address malnutrition in all its forms to help countries adopt and adapt evidence-informed interventions and improve adolescent nutrition specific to their contexts.
The publication supports governments and non-governmental agencies in implementing WHO guidelines on promoting healthy diets, providing additional micronutrients through fortification and targeted supplementation, managing acute malnutrition, promoting physical activity, promoting preconception and antenatal nutrition, preventing adolescent pregnancy and poor reproductive outcomes, and providing access to safe environment and hygiene. It emphasizes adolescent participation in governance, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of programs.
WHO coordinated the process, overseeing the preparation and finalization of the guideline. SPRING consultant Abigail Kaplan Ramage and members of SPRING’s Social and Behavior Change Communication team provided technical support throughout the process. In October 2017, Dr. Pura Rayco-Solon, an epidemiologist with the WHO Evidence and Programme Guidance Unit, presented an overview of the draft document at the Stakeholders Consultation on Adolescent Girls’ Nutrition.
