The Model Chapter on Infant and Young Child Feeding is intended for use in basic training of health professionals. It describes essential knowledge and basic skills that every health professional who works with mothers and young children should master. The Model Chapter can be used by teachers and students as a complement to textbooks or as a concise reference manual.
WHO and UNICEF jointly developed this global strategy to focus world attention on the impact that feeding practices have on the nutritional status, growth and development, health, and thus the very survival of infants and young children. The strategy is the result of a comprehensive two-year participatory process. It is based on the evidence of nutrition's significance in the early months and years of life, and of the crucial role that appropriate feeding practices play in achieving optimal health outcomes. The strategy is intended as a guide for action; it identifies interventions with a proven positive impact; it emphasizes providing mothers and families the support they need to carry out their crucial roles, and it explicitly defines the obligations and responsibilities in this regards of governments, international organizations, and other concerned parties.
Recommendations for feeding infants and young children have changed substantially over time owing to scientific advances, cultural influences, societal trends, and other factors. At the same time, stronger approaches to reviewing and synthesizing scientific evidence have evolved, such that there are now established protocols for developing evidence-based health recommendations. However, not all authoritative bodies have used such approaches for developing infant feeding guidance, and for many feeding questions there is little or no sound evidence available to guide best practices, despite the fact that research on infant and young child feeding has expanded in recent decades. Summarizing the current landscape of feeding recommendations for infants and young children can reveal the level of consistency of existing guidance, shed light on the types of evidence that underpin each recommendation, and provide insight into the feasibility of harmonizing guidelines. Feeding Infants and Children from Birth to 24 Months collects, compares, and summarizes existing recommendations on what and how to feed infants and young children from birth to 24 months of age. This report makes recommendations to stakeholders on strategies for communicating and disseminating feeding recommendations.
Widely considered the leading book involving nutrition and feeding infants and children, this revised edition offers practical advice that takes into account the most recent research into such topics as: emotional, cultural, and genetic aspects of eating; proper diet during pregnancy; breast-feeding versus; bottle-feeding; introducing solid food to an infant's diet; feeding the preschooler; and avoiding mealtime battles. An appendix looks at a wide range of disorders including allergies, asthma, and hyperactivity, and how to teach a child who is reluctant to eat. The author also discusses the benefits and drawbacks of giving young children vitamins.
The evaluation of reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health (RMNCH) by the Disease Control Priorities, Third Edition (DCP3) focuses on maternal conditions, childhood illness, and malnutrition. Specifically, the chapters address acute illness and undernutrition in children, principally under age 5. It also covers maternal mortality, morbidity, stillbirth, and influences to pregnancy and pre-pregnancy. Volume 3 focuses on developments since the publication of DCP2 and will also include the transition to older childhood, in particular, the overlap and commonality with the child development volume. The DCP3 evaluation of these conditions produced three key findings: 1. There is significant difficulty in measuring the burden of key conditions such as unintended pregnancy, unsafe abortion, nonsexually transmitted infections, infertility, and violence against women. 2. Investments in the continuum of care can have significant returns for improved and equitable access, health, poverty, and health systems. 3. There is a large difference in how RMNCH conditions affect different income groups; investments in RMNCH can lessen the disparity in terms of both health and financial risk.
This exciting book, edited by Fiona Dykes and Victoria Hall Moran and with a foreword from Gretel Pelto, explores in an integrated context the varied factors associated with infant and child nutrition, including global feeding strategies, cultural factors, issues influencing breastfeeding, and economic and life cycle influences
This publication is a training resource that deals with the period prior to successful weaning when a child continues to receive breast milk but also needs increasing amounts of addtional complementary foods to ensure healthy development. It is intended as a practical learning tool for all those responsible for the health and nutrition of young children, particularly health and nutrition workers, and their trainers.
Feeding during the first two years of life is very important for the nutrition and growth of an infant. It has a great effect on early morbidity and mortality and long-term effects on health. Breastfeeding has many benefits for both the infant and mother, whereas formula feeding, although associated with disadvantages and problems, can be life-saving for infants who need it. This book examines many aspects of infant feeding and nutrition with chapters covering such topics as the impact of the first 1000 days of nutrition on child health and development, breastfeeding, factors behind the decision to breastfeed or formula feed, and the relationship between breastfeeding and gut microbiota, among others.
In recent years, several major drivers have put the world off track to ending world hunger and malnutrition in all its forms by 2030. The challenges have grown with the COVID-19 pandemic and related containment measures. This report presents the first global assessment of food insecurity and malnutrition for 2020 and offers some indication of what hunger might look like by 2030 in a scenario further complicated by the enduring effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It also includes new estimates of the cost and affordability of healthy diets, which provide an important link between the food security and nutrition indicators and the analysis of their trends. Altogether, the report highlights the need for a deeper reflection on how to better address the global food security and nutrition situation. To understand how hunger and malnutrition have reached these critical levels, this report draws on the analyses of the past four editions, which have produced a vast, evidence-based body of knowledge of the major drivers behind the recent changes in food security and nutrition. These drivers, which are increasing in frequency and intensity, include conflicts, climate variability and extremes, and economic slowdowns and downturns – all exacerbated by the underlying causes of poverty and very high and persistent levels of inequality. In addition, millions of people around the world suffer from food insecurity and different forms of malnutrition because they cannot afford the cost of healthy diets. From a synthesized understanding of this knowledge, updates and additional analyses are generated to create a holistic view of the combined effects of these drivers, both on each other and on food systems, and how they negatively affect food security and nutrition around the world. In turn, the evidence informs an in-depth look at how to move from silo solutions to integrated food systems solutions. In this regard, the report proposes transformative pathways that specifically address the challenges posed by the major drivers, also highlighting the types of policy and investment portfolios required to transform food systems for food security, improved nutrition, and affordable healthy diets for all. The report observes that, while the pandemic has caused major setbacks, there is much to be learned from the vulnerabilities and inequalities it has laid bare. If taken to heart, these new insights and wisdom can help get the world back on track towards the goal of ending hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition in all its forms.