Improving nutrition
Improved nutrition for children, particularly those under two, is key to limiting the lifelong damage wrought by malnutrition.
Infants and young children between 6-24 months of age are the most vulnerable to the effects of malnutrition. This is the age when the lack of adequate nutrition can have long-term, often irreversible, effects on physical and cognitive growth. For vulnerable groups in developing countries, it is the time when fortified complementary foods and improved feeding practices in addition to breastmilk can make a big difference to the body’s growth surge.
GAIN has started work on infant and young child nutrition last year, with an evidence-based approach that is firmly based on the WHO/UNICEF global strategy for infant and young child feeding, and aims to:
1. Promote breastfeeding
Exclusive breastfeeding up to 6 months of age, and continued breastfeeding up to and beyond 2 years of life is essential to a child's survival and health. GAIN aims to work with national partners to promote optimal breastfeeding, and establish a more supportive environment for mothers.
2. Stimulate the use of appropriate, low-cost complementary foods
GAIN's work encourages caretakers, governments, the private sector and public-private partnerships to improve children’s nutrition after 6 months of age. We aim to improve feeding practices and increasing access to low-priced, high-quality fortified complementary foods and / or fortified complementary food supplements. Part of this work entails working with governments and NGOs to improve feeding practices, as well as with the private sector on new appropriate products for low-income consumers, which are currently missing in many markets.
3. Build the enabling environment to improve child nutrition in developing countries
In addition, GAIN works with alliance partners to improve the regulatory and policy environment to support the promotion of breastfeeding, improved feeding practices, and the use of home-produced and industrially produced fortified complementary foods and food supplements.
Our work focuses on the high-burden countries of Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria and South Africa, but also supports other countries and regions where the burden of disease is highest.
This grant program was launched in November 2007 and foresees its first demonstrable results by the end of 2008. At present, an independent review panel is assessing the expressions of interest that were received by 31 January 2008, and they will submit their recommendation to GAIN by the end of May 2008. Thereafter, successful applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal.
