The time between birth and age 24 months provides a unique window of opportunity to improve the long-term health and development of young children. Poor health of the world’s children can severely hinder the development of communities and countries around the world.
Inadequate maternal and child nutrition is the underlying cause of an estimated 3.5 million deaths every year. Despite this burden, nutrition has seldom received major attention or adequate funding levels within country health agendas. FHI 360 is dedicated to addressing this critical need with innovative, multidisciplinary programs that deliver solutions and make an impact on people’s lives.
Through FHI 360’s Alive & Thrive program, we work to increase rates of exclusive breastfeeding and improved complementary feeding. Alive & Thrive identifies effective strategies for informing policies and programs, which in one example contributed to important revisions in maternity leave policy and advertisement law in Vietnam. The program also develops communication strategies to promote better feeding practices among caregivers and uses an integrated approach to improve infant and young child feeding practices by bringing together families, community groups, health care providers, governments, the private sector and national and international organizations.
Our work with the Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance III (FANTA) project improves the assessment, monitoring and evaluation of infant and young child feeding for children ages six through 23 months. Results from the FANTA project influence frequently used data collection instruments, such as the Knowledge, Practice and Coverage Survey and the Demographic Health Survey, and help partners better assess and measure changes in infant and child nutrition.
In India, FHI 360 has supported the design and delivery of effective large-scale anemia prevention programs for women and children. We manage community-based services for the Balasahyoga program in the Andhra Pradesh state in India. The project uses family case managers to connect children and families to essential care services, including nutritional and food security initiatives.
In another example, we have developed a computer-based model called PROFILES that allows policy makers to quantify the consequences of undernutrition. This model integrates country data and local stakeholder analysis. It demonstrates the sizable economic and human benefits of nutritional improvement, and has supported policy changes in nearly 30 countries.