The objective of this Food and Nutrition Bulletin supplement is to focus attention on the need to integrate actions to improve maternal, infant, and young child nutrition across the different stages of the key “window of opportunity” from preconception through pregnancy, the period of exclusive breastfeeding (0 to 6 months), and the target age for complementary feeding (6 to 24 months).
It is essential that program managers, policymakers, and researchers have a clear understanding of how nutrition during each of these different phases can affect the health outcomes that are the focus of their efforts. Understanding the synergistic effects of improved nutrition across these different phases, and which interventions are appropriate during each phase, is necessary in order to work jointly, efficiently, and with greater success to reduce the high rates of stunting and micronutrient deficiencies we still see around the world.