Hunger and malnutrition continue to be major global issues. SPRING collects evidence and shares experience and tools for development practitioners who are designing programs to alleviate hunger and improve nutrition globally.
Anemia is a widespread public health problem with many causes—reducing its prevalence improves the health and economic development of families and nations. Countries can take the following actions to address their specific anemia situation.
Nearly half of all deaths in children under five are attributable to undernutrition. Three million lives are lost each year to it (UNICEF 2016).
SPRING/Kyrgyz Republic provided support and technical assistance to the national deworming working group to update the national clinical protocol on deworming and to update strategies and communications materials for future deworming campaigns and helminth infection prevention initiatives.
Pomeroy-Stevens, Amanda, Heather Viland, and Sascha Lamstein. "Recommendations for Multi-Sector Nutrition Planning: Cross-Context Lessons from Nepal and Uganda." Field Exchange, no. 54 (February 2017): 90-94. March 2017. Accessed August 21, 2017. http://www.ennonline.net/fex/54/multisectornutritionplanningnepalanduganda
SPRING Pathways to Better Nutrition (PBN) case studies documented successes and challenges in implementing NNAPs in Nepal and Uganda at national and sub-national level. A longitudinal, mixed-methods approach was applied across multiple levels of governance, gathering qualitative and budgetary data over two years.
A national nutrition action plan or strategy is a clear signal of a country’s political commitment to nutrition. But SPRING has found that increased commitment does not always translate into better support for nutrition activities. Through our project’s Pathways to Better Nutrition Case Studies in Uganda and Nepal, we developed 10 recommendations for how countries can translate their multi-sectoral nutrition policies into increased nutrition action.
Anemia is a major public health challenge in Uganda. According to the most recent Uganda Demographic and Health Survey of 2011, 49 percent of children under five years and 23 percent of women of reproductive age (15-49 years) are anemic.
Pomeroy-Stevens, Amanda, Madhukar B. Shrestha, Monica Biradavolu, Kusum Hachhethu, Robin Houston, Indu Sharma, and Jolene Wun. 2016. “Prioritizing and Funding Nepal’s Multisector Nutrition Plan.” Food and Nutrition Bulletin 37 (4_suppl): S151–69. doi:10.1177/0379572116674555.
Background: Nepal has a long tradition of designing good multisectoral nutrition policy. However, success of policy implementation has varied. More evidence on how to successfully carry out multisector nutrition policy is needed.
Objective: We tracked the influence of Nepal’s multisectoral nutrition plan (MSNP) on the process of priority setting and budgeting from 2014 to 2016.
Agaba, Edgar, Amanda Pomeroy-Stevens, Shibani Ghosh, and Jeffrey K. Griffiths. 2016. “Assessing Progress in Implementing Uganda’s Nutrition Action Plan.” Food and Nutrition Bulletin 37 (4_suppl): S142–50. doi:10.1177/0379572116674553.
The 2011 Uganda Nutrition Action Plan (UNAP) established 2016 maternal and child nutrition targets. However, there is a lack of routine district-level data collection to assess UNAP implementation. The NIL collected serial household-level survey data (n = 3600) in 6 districts, including 2 UNAP implementation districts, in 2012 and 2014. Questionnaires focused on food security, nutrition, and health, among others, and included specific indicators relevant to UNAP’s targets.
Pomeroy-Stevens, Amanda, Alexis D’Agostino, Nancy Adero, Hannah Foehringer Merchant, Abel Muzoora, Ezekiel Mupere, Edgar Agaba, and Lidan Du. 2016. “Prioritizing and Funding the Uganda Nutrition Action Plan.” Food and Nutrition Bulletin 37 (4_suppl): S124–41. doi:10.1177/0379572116674554.
In 2010, Uganda began developing its first multisectoral nutrition plan, the Uganda Nutrition Action Plan (UNAP), to reduce malnutrition. While the UNAP signals high-level commitment to addressing nutrition, knowledge gaps remain about how to successfully implement such a plan. We tracked the UNAP’s influence on the process of priority setting and funding for nutrition from 2013 to 2015.