Online Program

285496
Window of opportunity: Achieving nutritional impact through a five country community-based maternal and child nutrition project


Wednesday, November 6, 2013 : 9:00 a.m. - 9:15 a.m.

Noor Tirmizi, PhD, CARE USA, Atlanta, GA
Lenette Golding, PhD, MPH, Nutrition Plus, Health Equity Unit, CARE USA, Atlanta, GA
Ann DiGirolamo, PhD, MPH, Nutrition Plus, Health Equity Unit, CARE USA, Atlanta, GA
Mary Lung'aho, PhD, Nutrition Policy Practice, Glastonbury
Alyssa Lowe, MPH, Nutrition Plus, Health Equity Unit, CARE USA, Atlanta, GA
Khrist Roy, MD, Nutrition, CARE USA, Atlanta, GA
Allison Prather, MPH, Nutrition Plus, Health Equity Unit, CARE USA, Atlanta, GA
Bethann Cottrell, PhD, Food and Nutrition Security Unit, CARE USA, Atlanta, GA
Maternal and child nutrition during the first 1,000 days – the critical period between conception and age two – shapes a child's future. The Window of Opportunity, CARE's global maternal, infant, and young child nutrition project, was implemented in five countries (Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nicaragua, Peru and Sierra Leone) from 2008 - 2013. The project was implemented in rural, resource poor environments and aimed to protect, promote, and support optimal infant and young child feeding and related maternal practices through advocacy and policy guidance, strengthening health systems, social and behavior change communication, monitoring activities, capacity strengthening, and sharing good practices. In order to assess the design, performance, and effect of the project, quantitative and qualitative baseline and endline data were compared for each country and across countries. Results indicate that the project was successful at building an enabling environment for improved nutrition, strengthening health systems for healthier mothers and children, and empowering individuals and communities to make good choices when it comes to nutrition. Moreover, our activities resulted in achieving improved nutritional status of children under two years. CARE's experiences and accomplishments can help to inform future global health programs and strategies. In particular, our achievements in building the capacity of governments and local partners to implement high-quality nutrition activities and to support the development of country-owned policies, programs, and tools have resulted in strengthened health systems and sustainable solutions that will have a lasting impact on the health and well-being of mothers and children.

Learning Areas:

Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Program planning

Learning Objectives:
Identify the approach the Window of Opportunity project used to improve the nutritional status of children under two in resource poor environments. Discuss the research design and methods used to assess the design, performance, and effect of the project. Summarize the project’s accomplishments across five years of community-based maternal, infant and young child nutrition programming.

Keyword(s): Nutrition, Maternal and Child Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I work as a program officer for the project I will be presenting on.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 5055.0: Nutrition and malnutrition