Download or read book Malawi stories of change in nutrition Overview written by Harris, Jodie and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2023-01-24 with total page 6 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Malawi has made significant progress in improving nutrition outcomes in the past decades. Despite this, the rates of stunting and anaemia remain high and overweight and obesity amongst women is rising. Malawi remains one of the most committed countries to nutrition, ranking 3rd out of 45 African countries on the Hunger and Nutrition Commitment Index, but effective implementation of policies is still challenging. Progress is being inhibited by a lack of dedicated budget lines for nutrition at district level, over reliance on external donors, poor coordination and competing priorities for limited resources within sectoral budgets. The pandemic, climate change and the Ukraine war have disrupted food systems, increased prices of fuel, fertilizer, and food, and caused loss of harvest and livelihoods, threatening to reverse decades of progress. Positive and coordinated action is needed to increase financial commitment to food and nutrition security, ensure nutrition is prioritised in the nation’s economic and development agenda, and continue Malawi’s progress to reducing malnutrition.
Download or read book Malawi stories of change in nutrition Evidence review written by Roschnik, Natalie and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2023-01-24 with total page 6 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A review of evidence was conducted to understand the trends and determinants of malnutrition and identify interventions and programmes that improved maternal and child nutrition in Malawi. While children are less malnourished than two decades ago, one in three children remains stunted (37%) and 63% are anaemic. Children born from younger and less educated mothers, or from poorer rural households are more likely to be malnourished. One in ten children are born with a low birth weight (< 2.5kgs), with nearly half of them stunted by age two. The main causes of malnutrition include recurring sickness, poor infant and young child feeding and hygiene practices and low use of health and nutrition services, influenced by a wide range of factors, including food insecurity, poverty, gender inequality and food taboos. Programme evaluations and intervention trials have shown mixed results but overall highlight the need to address the multiple underlying drivers of malnutrition, rather than focus on one intervention.
Download or read book Malawi stories of change in nutrition Lessons on advocacy written by Nowa, Mphatso and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2023-01-24 with total page 4 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Malawi is one of the most committed countries in Africa to improving nutrition, yet it still has one of the highest rates of malnutrition in the region and is struggling to turn commitments into action at scale. The advocacy component of the Afikepo project strengthened capacity of national and district government and Civil Society Organisation (CSO) representatives to plan, budget and advocate for scaling up nutrition commitments at national and in 10 districts. These actions improved awareness, coordination and commitment to prioritise nutrition across sectors, within government, and CSOs and a wide range of actors at national and district level, which in turn improved governance and accountability. However, these actions did not have a substantial effect on domestic funding allocations, which are still heavily reliant on external donors. This brief summarises lessons learned and recommendations from the various advocacy and capacity building efforts over the past four years.
Download or read book Malawi stories of change in nutrition Funding for nutrition written by Nyirongo, Godwin and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2023-01-24 with total page 4 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Malawi has strong policies and frameworks for nutrition but insufficient funding to implement them. Analyses of government budgets at national level and in 10 districts from financial years 2016/17 to 2022/23, found that domestic budget allocations for nutrition are still well below the 5% of national budget target set by the government. National budget allocations ranged between 0.5% to 3.7% depending on the year. At district level, they ranged from 0.2% to 1.6%, with only one district, in one financial year, exceeding the 1.5% target for district level nutrition budget allocations. Over 95% of nutrition activities in Malawi are currently funded by external donors. The absence of sufficient, consistent and dedicated domestic budget for nutrition at national and district level, means nutrition policies and plans will continue to be driven by, and dependent on, externally funded pilot-scale projects without national reach or ownership. Budget tracking is essential, as it provides data, which all actors can use to hold government to account on their commitments and funding targets.
Download or read book Changes in food and nutrition security in Malawi written by Iñigo Verduzco-Gallo and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2014-07-01 with total page 39 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A large proportion of Malawian households are caught in a trap where poverty and food insecurity reinforce one another and where periods of food deficits and severe food crises are frequent occurrences. In recognition of this, the Malawian government has since 2005/06 implemented a large-scale Farm Input Subsidy Program (FISP), which supplies half of smallholder farmers with sufficient fertilizer and maize seeds to satisfy the maize consumption needs of an average-sized family. While the program boosted maize production and lowered maize prices, thus ensuring increased caloric availability at the household level, its effect on overall food consumption, dietary diversity, micronutrient deficiency, and child nutrition is less clear. This study evaluates household expenditure survey data to measure changes in nutrition outcomes between 2004/05 and 2010/11.
Download or read book Nourishing millions Stories of change in nutrition Synopsis written by Yosef, Sivan and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2016-06-29 with total page 8 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent years, the world has seen unprecedented attention and political commitment to addressing malnutrition. Milestones such as the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement, the Lancet Maternal and Child Nutrition Series, and the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) have marked the rapid rise of nutrition on the global policy and research agenda. These developments reverse years of relative neglect for nutrition. Undernutrition is a global challenge with huge social and economic costs. It kills millions of young children annually, stunts growth, erodes child development, reduces the amount of schooling children attain, and increases the likelihood of their being poor as adults, if they survive. Stunting persists through a lifetime and beyond—underweight mothers are more likely to give birth to underweight children, perpetuating undernutrition across generations. Undernutrition reduces global gross domestic product by US$1.4–$2.1 trillion a year—the size of the total economy of Africa south of the Sahara.
Download or read book Nourishing millions written by Gillespie, Stuart and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2016-06-29 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The stories in this book are diverse, spanning five decades and playing out in different arenas, from local to global. They take place in developing countries all over the world, and they involve many sectors and disciplines beyond nutrition itself, including health, agriculture, education, social protection, and water and sanitation. Most importantly, they paint a nuanced picture of success as a context-specific achievement that may, or may not, endure into the future.
Download or read book Micronutrient policy process in Malawi written by Babu, Suresh Chandra and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2016-11-14 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Micronutrient deficiencies are common across the developing world and have major effects on the health outcomes of its population. Although this is well understood, many countries find it difficult to bring about policy change in this regard. This paper uses micronutrient policies designed and implemented in Malawi as a case study to shed light on the barriers and gaps faced by developing countries for similar programs and policies. To understand the drivers of policy change, this paper uses the kaleidoscope model to trace the policy processes of three major micronutrients—iodine, vitamin A, and iron. Using a select set of policy process tools, as well as field interviews with key informants who were part of Malawi’s micronutrient policy process, the authors test a set of hypotheses on 16 variables that drive policy change in the micronutrient policy sphere. Results indicate that much of the agenda setting for micronutrient policies and programs was triggered by external events that focused on the elimination of micronutrient deficiencies as part of the global development agenda. These events include the International Conference on Nutrition, the Millennium Development Goals, and, more recently, Scaling up Nutrition. The design of micronutrient policies and program interventions in Malawi was adopted by locally mandated ministries and institutions, in collaboration with development partners who provided both financial and technical support at the design stage. The adoption of micronutrient policies and intervention programs was driven primarily by external funding, particularly through supplementation programs related to vitamin A and iron. Adoption of fortification standards for vitamin A has been going on for more than a decade due to continuous resistance from the private sector, which faces additional costs and needs greater technical expertise. The biofortification method of micronutrient interventions for iron and vitamin A is externally driven and relatively new in Malawi. Although this method is widely accepted by policy makers, no concrete strategy has been developed for its design, adoption, and implementation. Further, supplementation and fortification programs continue to face implementation challenges due to poor physical infrastructure and monitoring systems. However, the national institutional architecture required for agenda setting, design, adoption, implementation, evaluation, and review to address micronutrient deficiencies is in place in Malawi. The system needs continued support from development partners for effective functioning at all levels. The use of various tools for the policy change part of the kaleidoscope model indicate that policy change is a dynamic process; over time, changes in the nature and composition of the members of policy and institutional architecture can result in different policy outcomes. The Malawi case study demonstrates two things. First, local leadership is crucial in keeping micronutrient deficiencies on the policy-making agenda, and second, it matters where coordinating power is placed in the policy hierarchy. This paper finds that, even with policy champions, adopted policies will face implementation challenges unless they are supported with adequate resources and are systematically followed through to final execution and delivery.
Download or read book New Challenges and Future Perspectives in Nutrition and Sustainable Diets in Africa written by Hettie Carina Schönfeldt and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2024-05-06 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Africa is confronted with the triple burden of malnutrition; it is also faced with the triple challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment. In many African countries, large proportions of the population rely on agriculture not only for their food - but also for their livelihoods. A transformed agricultural and food system is thus a necessary condition for addressing this double-triple challenge. Additionally, post harvest and food waste and losses reduce the availability of sufficient quantities of safe, edible and preferable foods. At least one third of food produced at farm level is lost due to inappropriate storage, infrastructure and agro-processing technologies in developing countries; and one third of food purchased is wasted at household and retail level.
Download or read book Evaluation study of the IFPRI A4NH research program on diet quality and health of the poor written by Behrman, Jere R. and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2019-06-22 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: IFPRI’s Poverty, Health, and Nutrition Division (PHND) and the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH) have conducted research since 2003 on the critical links between nutrition, health, and agriculture. This evaluation considers the impact of the work carried out through 2016, looking at the research strategy, engagement, capacity building, and impact on programs and policies and global dialogue. Findings suggest that the Diet Quality and Health of the Poor program has been successful in developing and sharing valuable research, knowledge, and data, and has brought new issues and approaches to partners and stakeholders. Through a range of projects, the program has effectively engaged with stakeholders, partners, and governments to support capacity enhancement and to help shape national interventions to improve nutrition.
Download or read book Farm transition and indigenous growth written by Houssou, Nazaire and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2016-01-15 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper characterizes the transition from small-scale farming and the drivers of farm size growth among medium- and large-scale farmers in Ghana. The research was designed to better understand the dynamics of change in Ghana’s farm structure and contribute to the debate on whether Africa should pursue a smallholder-based or large-scale oriented agricultural development strategy. The results suggest a rising number of medium-scale farmers and a declining number of smallholder farmers in the country, a pattern that is consistent with a changing farm structure in the country’s agricultural sector. More important, findings show that the rise to medium- and large-scale farming is significantly associated with successful transition of small-scale farmers rather than entry of medium or large farms into agriculture, reflecting small-scale farmers successfully breaking through the barriers of subsistence agriculture into more commercialized production systems. The findings in this paper also suggest that some of the factors thought to be important for change in farm structure are no obstacle to farm size growth, even though they may foster transition. Notably, the results here diverge from the patterns observed in Zambia and Kenya, which indicate that the emergent farmers came mostly from the urban elite. Unfortunately, past and current policy discussions have not featured these emergent farmers sufficiently in the quest to transform agriculture in Ghana. Government should capitalize on these emergent farmers who have a demonstrated ability to graduate productively as it strives to address challenges in the smallholder sector.
Download or read book Partial Stories written by Claire L. Wendland and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2022-04-22 with total page 365 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Partial Stories takes readers to Malawi, where roughly one in twenty women can expect to die of a pregnancy or childbirth complication, despite decades of safe-motherhood programs. The stories of these mothers are told in hospitals and villages, by chiefs and doctors, herbalists and nurses, epidemiologists and healers, and competing explanations proliferate. The mothers' stories are used by elders for technical education and moral instruction at a coming-of-age-ritual, a district hospital's mortality review, and in the reflected glow of a computer screen at an international conference. After orienting readers to urban Malawi's context of therapeutic pluralism and material scarcity, Claire Wendland discusses the ways various experts account for maternal death, showing how their diverse explanations reflect competing visions of the past and shared concerns about social change. She looks to a series of pregnancy-related deaths in order to consider bodies as biosocial phenomena, shaped from before birth by history and social inequality. Wendland reveals an uneven therapeutic landscape that pushes experts to improvise, clinically and ethically. Their creative, essential, and sometimes deadly improvisations ask us to reconsider the "best practice" dogmas of global health and transnational research, as well as the nature of medical authority and expertise. Wendland demonstrates how strategies of legitimation render care more dangerous and knowledge more partial than it might otherwise be"--
Download or read book Disease Control Priorities Third Edition Volume 8 written by Donald A. P. Bundy and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2017-11-20 with total page 977 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More children born today will survive to adulthood than at any time in history. It is now time to emphasize health and development in middle childhood and adolescence--developmental phases that are critical to health in adulthood and the next generation. Child and Adolescent Health and Development explores the benefits that accrue from sustained and targeted interventions across the first two decades of life. The volume outlines the investment case for effective, costed, and scalable interventions for low-resource settings, emphasizing the cross-sectoral role of education. This evidence base can guide policy makers in prioritizing actions to promote survival, health, cognition, and physical growth throughout childhood and adolescence.
Download or read book Impact of nutrition and fish supplementation on the response to anti retroviral therapy Zambia a literature review written by and published by WorldFish. This book was released on with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Women s Empowerment and Nutrition written by Mara van den Bold and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2013-11-01 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many development programs that aim to alleviate poverty and improve investments in human capital consider womens empowerment a key pathway by which to achieve impact and often target women as their main beneficiaries. Despite this, womens empowerment dimensions are often not rigorously measured and are at times merely assumed. This paper starts by reflecting on the concept and measurement of womens empowerment and then reviews some of the structural interventions that aim to influence underlying gender norms in society and eradicate gender discrimination. It then proceeds to review the evidence of the impact of three types of interventionscash transfer programs, agricultural interventions, and microfinance programson womens empowerment, nutrition, or both. Qualitative evidence on conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs generally points to positive impacts on womens empowerment, although quantitative research findings are more heterogenous. CCT programs produce mixed results on long-term nutritional status, and very limited evidence exists of their impacts on micronutrient status. The little evidence available on unconditional cash transters (UCT) indicates mixed impacts on womens empowerment and positive impacts on nutrition; however, recent reviews comparing CCT and UCT programs have found little difference in terms of their effects on stunting and they have found that conditionality is less important than other factors, such as access to healthcare and child age and sex. Evidence of cash transfer program impacts depending on the gender of the transfer recipient or on the conditionality is also mixed, although CCTs with non-health conditionalities seem to have negative impacts on nutritional status. The impacts of programs based on the gender of the transfer recipient show mixed results, but almost no experimental evidence exists of testing gender-differentiated impacts of a single program. Agricultural interventionsspecifically home gardening and dairy projectsshow mixed impacts on womens empowerment measures such as time, workload, and control over income; but they demonstrate very little impact on nutrition. Implementation modalities are shown to determine differential impacts in terms of empowerment and nutrition outcomes. With regard to the impact of microfinance on womens empowerment, evidence is also mixed, although more recent reviews do not find any impact on womens empowerment. The impact of microfinance on nutritional status is mixed, with no evidence of impact on micronutrient status. Across all three types of programs (cash transfer programs, agricultural interventions, and microfinance programs), very little evidence exists on pathways of impact, and evidence is often biased toward a particular region. The paper ends with a discussion of the findings and remaining evidence gaps and an outline of recommendations for research.
Download or read book The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2018 written by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2018-09-14 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New evidence this year corroborates the rise in world hunger observed in this report last year, sending a warning that more action is needed if we aspire to end world hunger and malnutrition in all its forms by 2030. Updated estimates show the number of people who suffer from hunger has been growing over the past three years, returning to prevailing levels from almost a decade ago. Although progress continues to be made in reducing child stunting, over 22 percent of children under five years of age are still affected. Other forms of malnutrition are also growing: adult obesity continues to increase in countries irrespective of their income levels, and many countries are coping with multiple forms of malnutrition at the same time – overweight and obesity, as well as anaemia in women, and child stunting and wasting.
Download or read book Challenges in implementing a small scale farmers capacity building program written by Ragasa, Catherine and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2016-01-20 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2011, in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Democratic Republic of Congo’s government launched the Food Production, Processing, and Marketing project—which aimed to raise incomes and improve food security in the target areas by improving agricultural productivity, market efficiency, and the capacity of producers to respond to market signals. In August–October 2013 and February–March 2014, halfway through the project’s implementation, a midline survey was conducted to assess progress with respect to intermediate outcomes. The present paper highlights the results of that assessment survey. We pay close attention to accurate attribution of observed changes to the project and employ a double-difference method that compares the changes in indicators before the project and at the time of the survey (project midline) between the beneficiaries and comparable control groups. Overall, the survey results suggest weak impact on most of the outcome indicators, and they highlight challenges in implementing small-scale farmers’ capacity building within the context of weak institutions and a fragile political context.
