Mother, Infant and Young Child Nutrition & Malnutrition - Feeding practices including micronutrient deficiencies prevention, control of wasting, stunting and underweight Mother, Infant and Young Child Nutrition & Malnutrition

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Malnutrition kills 5 million children every year  .... one child every 6 seconds.
Mother, Infant and Young Child Nutrition and Malnutrition

Mother, Infant and Young Child Nutrition and Malnutrition
 

Healthcare Information For All by 2015
 

Ending Hunger
Join the Movement - Sign the Petition

 

Why Is Breastfeeding So Important?

Why is breastfeeding so important?

Why Is Breastfeeding So Important?Download .pdf 17.5 mb.

Breastfeeding provides the perfect nutrition for your baby and provides many health benefits for both mother and baby.

» Initiating breast feeding within the first hour and exclusive breastfeeding can prevent under two mortality.

» Breastfeeding: Exclusive breastfeeding

» Colostrum - Gift of a protective cover from the mother

» We believe all mothers know how to feed their child. But do they?

» Myths and facts about breast milk

» Complimentary feeding

» Role of media in promoting proper young child feeding: Media should focus on and promote measures that are required to be taken urgently to ensure the survival of children

Hungry Planet Video Series

Hungry Planet Video Series

One billion. That's the number of hungry people worldwide. The effects are heartbreaking. The causes myriad. Solutions are needed now to feed future generations. In this series, the UN 's three food agencies - FAO, WFP and IFAD - take us around the globe in search of answers to some of the most pressing questions we face today.

download
download pdf

Global Health eLearning Center

Nutrition: An Introduction

Research shows that inadequate maternal and child nutrition is the underlying cause of 3.5 million deaths every year and 35 percent of the disease burden for children under 5 years of age.

However, universal coverage of proven nutrition-related interventions could reduce overall mortality of children under 3 by 25 percent.

Are you familiar with the basic concepts of good nutrition?

How does nutrition affect maternal and child health?

What are common nutritional deficiencies, vulnerable groups, and the causes of undernutrition?

The Nutrition course covers the basic concepts of good nutrition and common nutritional deficiencies, the magnitude of malnutrition in different populations, the causes of undernutrition in vulnerable groups, and key indicators and ways of measuring them. It also outlines the major population-based interventions to improve nutritional status. One-time registration at globalhealthlearning.org gives you free access to this and 49 other courses that cover a variety of global health topics.

Stay updated on what’s happening in Horn of Africa

World Breastfeeding Week


Drought in the Horn of Africa, coupled with conflict in Somalia, has affected over 13 million people. WFP is implementing food operations in five countries in the region (Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya and Uganda). This page brings together a range of information on the hunger crisis in the Horn and WFP's emergency response.

Horn of Africa in the Media

Ronaldo, Zidane to Play for Africa Famine Relief
NDTV.com - 27 September 2011

U.S. Response to Humanitarian Crisis in the Horn of Africa
Star Africa / U.S. Department of State - 26 September 2011

Irish donations to East Africa continue to rise
World and Media - 27 September 2011

SOMALIA: Drought IDPs forced to flee fighting in border town
IRIN - 22 September 2011

Cholera, measles to hit Somalia famine victims
CBS News / AP - 22 September 2011

Community based infant and young child feeding

World Breastfeeding Week

Accelerating interventions aimed at improving infant and young child feeding (IYCF) at community level is a key priority in the effort to improve survival, growth, and development of children with equity.

UNICEF recently developed a new set of generic tools for programming and capacity development on community based IYCF counselling.

Facilitator Guide
Planning and Adaptation Guide
Key Messages Booklet
Participant Materials
Training Aids
How to breastfeed your baby - Brochure
Nutrition During Pregnancy and Breastfeeding - Brochure
How to feed a baby after six months - Brochure
Counselling Cards for Community Workers

In French

Guide du Facilitateur
Guide de Planification e d'Adaptation
Livret de Messages Clés
Materiels du Participant
Outils de Formation
Brochure - Allaitement
Brochure - Alimenter un Bébé Après 6 Mois
Brochure - Nutrition Pendant la Grossesse et l'Allaitement Maternel

Starved for Attention

Starved for Attention

Right now, the humanitarian food aid system provides nutritionally inadequate foods to malnourished children under two years of age.

Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and VII Photo present “Starved for Attention,” a multimedia campaign exposing the neglected and largely invisible crisis of childhood malnutrition.

This situation must stop.


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The fight against persistent underweight, stunting and wasting among children in developing countries is based on appropriate maternal, infant and young child feeding practices including micronutrient deficiencies prevention and control. However, wasted children are those at immediate risk of dying and will need timely detection and correct management for their survival.

The orange ribbon is an awareness ribbon for malnutrition.
The orange ribbon is
an awareness ribbon
for malnutrition.

More than half of all child deaths are associated with malnutrition, which weakens the body's resistance to illness. Poor diet, frequent illness, and inadequate or inattentive care of young children can lead to malnutrition.

If a woman is malnourished during pregnancy, or if her child is malnourished during the first two years of life, the child's physical and mental growth and development may be slowed. This cannot be made up when the child is older – it will affect the child for the rest of his or her life.

Children have the right to a caring, protective environment and to nutritious food and basic health care to protect them from illness and promote growth and development.

Hunger: What You Need to Know - Ever wonder why hundreds of millions of people go hungry?

 

2011 Global Hunger Index

The challenge of hunger: Taming price spikes and excessive food price volatility

2011 Global Hunger Index Report  - Full screen map

Download Full Report  -  GHI Mobile App

Click on the marker to see the GHI for your country of interest.

Click on the Country name/Rank above for IFPRI resources.

The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is designed to comprehensively measure and track hunger globally and by country and region. Calculated each year by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the GHI highlights successes and failures in hunger reduction and provides insights into the drivers of hunger. By raising awareness and understanding of regional and country differences in hunger, the GHI aims to trigger actions to reduce hunger.
Read more

 


Photo: Reuters
An internally displaced Somali woman mourns near the body of her son,
who died of malnourishment, next to their temporary home in Hodan district,
south of Somalia's capital Mogadishu,

 

The F Word: Famine is the Real Obscenity

 

Child Dies Every Six Minutes in Somalia Famine


Read about ways you can help here and here. See a gallery of photos from Somalia here.
 

Somalia famine getting worse

Seven hundred and fifty thousand Somalis may die of starvation this year. That’s equivalent to wiping out every single person in Washington [DC], plus 150,000 more.

The scale of the disaster in the Horn of Africa is something difficult to wrap your head around. Consider some of the other numbers:

  • The rate of malnutrition in Somalia is now 50 percent, meaning half of its people are at risk of malnutrition, starvation or death.
     
  • Some 12 million people across the region need food aid, a number equivalent to the entire population of Illinois.
     
  • The amount of money needed to stop the disaster in Somalia is $2.4 billion, the same amount of money Warren Buffett made today alone on paper.
     
  • The United Nations is $1.1 billion short of that goal, the same cost as the initial estimated cost of the damage of Hurricane Irene.

Famine in SomaliaInfographic: Famine in the Horn of Africa
To get a visual representation of the Horn of Africa crisis, consider this infographic from Washington Post / elocal:

 

Malnutrition is an abnormal physiological condition caused by deficiencies, excesses or imbalances in energy, protein and/or other nutrients. Undernutrition is when the body contains lower than normal amounts of one or more nutrients i.e. deficiencies in macronutrients and/or micronutrients. The most pervasive form of malnutrition to date in the poorest countries is undernutrition.

For the Whole Community

  • Healthy Nutrition
    Contains practical and easy-to-understand information about the principles of healthy nutrition.
  • Malnutrition
    Contains a simple explanation about malnutrition and an overview about the malnutrition situation in India and Maharashtra for the general public.
  • Nutrition in the Context of HIV/AIDS
    The HIV pandemic and the risk of mother to child transmission of HIV through breastfeeding pose unique challenges to promotion of breastfeeding. It is important to promote HIV Individual counselling and Testing among all pregnant and lactating women.

Practitioners and Program Managers

  • Protection, Promotion and Support of Healthy Maternal, Infant and Young Child Feeding
    This section looks at healthy nutrition from a programmatic point of view. It includes links with high impact nutrition interventions and an introduction on the ENA approach to support planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of high-impact nutrition interventions.
  • Early Detection and Referral of Children with Malnutrition
    Looks at feasible ways to timely detect and refer children with malnutrition from primary health care units and communities. It is intended to increase coverage through active case finding and referral of children with malnutrition at all contact points before the onset of life threatening complications.
  • Management of Child Malnutrition
    Looks at the severely malnourished, with an in-patient outline based on WHO standards and updates from Professor Michael Golden and an out-patient outline based mainly on the Community-based Therapeutic Care (CTC) Field Manual by the CTC Research and Development program (collaboration between Valid International and Concern Worldwide).
  • Information Management Systems
    Provides insights on key indicators and means of verification.

 


September 16th, 2011 - MSF

  Interactive Hunger Map
This is one way to map hunger – by percentage of undernourished in the total population.
Click here to download the FAO Hunger Map.

 

The Hungry Children Map

This map shows startling facts about nutrition and children in our world where one out of four children from developing countries are underweight. [...]
 

 

Women and Hunger: 10 Facts

from the World Food Programme


Women have a crucial role to play in the fight against hunger. As mothers, farmers, teachers and entrepreneurs, they hold the key to building a future free of malnutrition. Here are ten reasons why empowering women is such an important part of our work.

 

Did you know
  • In 2008, the number of undernourished people in the world rose to 963 million (more than the combined populations of the United States, Canada and the European Union), up 40 million from 2007.
  • Hunger does not affect just the individual. Economists estimate that every child whose physical and mental development is stunted by hunger and malnutrition stands to lose 5 percent to 10 percent in lifetime earnings.
  • The total food surplus of the United States alone could satisfy every empty stomach in Africa; France's leftovers could feed the hungry in Democratic Republic of Congo and Italy's could feed Ethiopia's undernourished.
  • Today 25,000 people will die from hunger. A child dies every six seconds of malnutrition or starvation.
  • There is enough food in the world today for everyone to have the nourishment necessary for a healthy and productive life.
  • The global rise in food prices has pushed an estimated 40 million more people into hunger this year, UN food agency says. There are now 963 million hungry people, accounting for almost 15% of the world population. The financial crisis, could tip even more people into poverty and hunger, it warns.
  • By 2009-end, the ranks of the hungry is expected to swell to 1 billion people. Number of hungry rose by 110 million in past 6 years.
  • Chronic hunger is calculated by prevalence of child malnutrition in population, rates of child mortality and proportion of people who are calorie deficient.
  • There are an estimated 350 to 400 million children under 18 suffering from hunger in the world today.
  • WHO/UNICEF estimates 149 million children under five are underweight — a key indicator of undernutrition.
  • Between five and six million under-fives die each year from diseases which they could have survived if they were not undernourished.
  • 73 percent of the world’s underweight under-fives live in just ten countries.

Hunger and India

With more than 200 million hungry people, India has the largest number of hungry in the world.

  • On Global Hunger Index, India ranks 66th out of 68 countries.
  • In the index, all Indian states are at 'serious' level of hunger. 12 states fall in 'alarming' category.
  • Madhya Pradesh is India's most malnourished state.

 

Diarrhoea: Why children are still dying and what can be doneDiarrhoea: Why children are still dying and what can be done
Diarrhoea is the second leading cause of death among children under five globally. Nearly one in five child deaths – about 1.5 million each year – is due to diarrhoea. It kills more young children than AIDS, malaria and measles combined.

Today, only 39 per cent of children with diarrhoea in developing countries receive the recommended treatment, and limited trend data suggest that there has been little progress since 2000.
more >>

 

Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding

Babies who are breastfed are generally healthier and achieve optimal growth and development compared to those who are fed formula milk.

If the vast majority of babies were exclusively fed breastmilk in their first six months of life – meaning only breastmilk and no other liquids or solids, not even water – it is estimated that the lives of at least 1.2 million children would be saved every year. If children continue to be breastfed up to two years and beyond, the health and development of millions of children would be greatly improved.  more >>

 

"We are guilty of many errors and many faults, but our worst crime is abandoning the children, neglecting the foundation of life. Many of the things we need can wait. The child cannot. Right now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood is being made and his senses are being developed.

To him we cannot answer 'Tomorrow'. His name is 'Today'."

Gabriela Mistral, 1948

 

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New components, tools, videos and other content is being added regularly.

"Knowledge is the enemy of disease. That is a powerful metaphor. Applying what we know already will have a bigger impact on health and disease than any drug or technology likely to be introduced in the next decade." - The Lancet

Knowledge is built incrementally with one person building upon the work of another. The more we make this process easy the faster knowledge will reach and thus benefit all of human kind.

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Creative Commons LicenseExcept where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License

 

18 January, 2012


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Initiation of Breastfeeding by Breast Crawl


Diarrhoea: Why children are still dying and what can be done

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