Viewing All Nutrition Areas
Click on individual nutrition areas to see projects in those areas.

Adolescent and women's nutrition
Micronutrient deficiencies, infections and parasites, gender inequities, and heavy physical labor threaten women's nutritional status throughout their life cycle, in turn influencing pregnancy outcomes, family care, household food security, and local and national economic development. Adolescence and the reproductive years are periods of particular nutritional stress. AED has worked with USAID, PVO partners, and national governments to heighten the focus on women's and adolescents' nutrition and to improve programming that targets women.. AED is improving advocacy for women's nutrition through the development of evidence-based models (REDUCE-ALIVE and PROFILES) that highlight the consequences of malnutrition for policymakers and other audiences. AED's work on expansion of the Essential Nutrition Actions focuses on the use of multiple contact points to reach women with interventions that will have a positive impact on their nutritional status. AED tools for improving women's nutrition include a training manual for health workers utilizing a life cycle approach, and a guide for monitoring and evaluation among others.

Infant and young child feeding
Breastfeeding is one of the behaviors most clearly linked to reductions in infant mortality, as it ensures proper nutrition and protects infants against illness. AED has achieved documented increases in early initiation and exclusive breastfeeding in countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. AED's infant and young child feeding progams have improved timely introduction of appropriate complementary foods as part of a focus on the contiuum of nutrition and care practices during a child's first two years of life. AED's infant and young child feeding experts collaborate with partners to develop national and community-based programs, and work with committed private sector partners to develop and market nutritionally fortified complementary foods that are affordable to vulnerable populations. Among the topics addressed by AED in this area are support for optimal breastfeeding and complementary feeding from birth to 24 months, nutritional support for pregnant and lactating women, the lactational amenorrhea method of birth spacing, and infant feeding and HIV.

Infant feeding and HIV/AIDS
Each year more than half a million infants become infected with HIV-the majority acquiring the infection from mother-to-child transmission during pregnancy, labor and delivery, and through breastfeeding. AED recognized this tragic situation and has been in the forefront of research and programs to support safer infant feeding practices in the context of HIV. AED experts have worked with WHO to develop feeding assessment and counseling tools, to develop global guidance on infant feeding by HIV infected mothers, and to identify indicators for global reporting and program monitoring and evaluation. In Zambia, Malawi, Swaziland, Lesotho, Mozambique, South Africa, Nigeria, and Tanzania, AED has provided support to revise national infant feeding policies, to assess and strengthen health services, and to train health workers and community support group members on prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and infant feeding. AED staff have also published groundbreaking studies on breastfeeding and HIV, the impact of counseling to reduce HIV transmission through breastfeeding, risks and challenges of early breastfeeding cessation, and nutritional support for HIV-infected and exposed infants after six months of age.

Micronutrients and fortification
Micronutrient malnutrition affects over 2 billion people worldwide, with devastating effects on health and development. Micronutrient deficiencies increase risk of mortality and are associated with a variety of adverse outcomes, including decreased immunity, poor intellectual development and cognition, and impaired work capacity. AED's work on micronutrients currently focuses on four key nutrients: vitamin A, iron, iodine, and zinc. AED provides technical assistance for micronutrient supplementation programs, as well as for expanding food fortification and behavior change strategies to improve micronutrient intakes in populations at risk of deficiency.. Improving sustainability of micronutrient programs is an overarching theme of work in country programs. AED is also working to introduce zinc supplements in Tanzania and India for treatment of diarrhea by low-income consumers and is studying the impact of micronutrient-fortified food on the health of women with HIV.

Nutrition and food security links
Food security encompasses availability of, access to, and utilization of food for a healthy and productive life. AED works with donor agencies and implementing organizations to develop strategies and approaches to reduce food insecurity and vulnerability in emergency and development contexts. In its food security work, AED strives to ensure that: sufficient, appropriate, diverse, and nutritious food is consistently available to individuals or is within reasonable proximity; individuals have access to adequate incomes or other resources to purchase, barter, or grow sufficient food to maintain adequate diets and nutritional levels; and food is properly used-including appropriate food processing and storage practices, adequate knowledge and practice of key nutrition and child care behaviors, and adequate health and sanitation services.

Nutrition and HIV/AIDS
HIV compromises the nutritional status of infected individuals and, in turn, malnutrition worsens the effects of the disease by weakening the immune system. Nutritional care and support helps break this vicious cycle by enabling people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) to manage symptoms, reduce susceptibility to opportunistic infections, improve nutritional status, promote response to medical treatment, and improve overall quality of life. AED works with governments, donors, implementing NGOs, and private companies to integrate nutrition interventions into HIV/AIDS treatment, care, and support services. In addition to region-wide work in East and Southern Africa, AED has provided extensive in-country technical assistance in Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zambia, and will be working in Ethiopia and Namibia. AED has developed guidance for program managers on design and implementation of nutritional care and support and on food and nutrition implications of antiretroviral therapy (ART). AED also maintains an electronic forum, ProNut-HIV, on nutritional support and care for PLWHA. AED is conducting research on the effects of food supplementation on health outcomes in malnourished adults and children living with HIV/AIDS.

Nutrition in emergencies
AED's emergency nutrition model promotes early interventions that build local capacity, increase community resilience, and promote a rapid return to sustainable development. Linking relief to development requires resource integration and innovative interventions that can be scaled up. AED also works to promote a better understanding and use of the collection, reporting, and use of nutritional and food security data in emergencies. The need for specialized foods for use in emergency feeding has been the focus of a number of AED activities. Working with the United States Government, private sector, and NGOs, AED has been active in the development and deployment of novel therapeutic, supplementary and complete emergency foods-for feeding the severely malnourished child or adult, or for provision of nutritious fortified complementary foods for the growing infant. Recent work (in collaboration with Valid International and Concern Worldwide) with nutrient dense pastes based on fortified peanut butter has meant that this convenient, nutritious and clean food is available in a large number of refugee and other emergency situations. AED has been promoting local production and the use of local ingredients to reduce the cost and promote local economies.

Nutrition-related chronic disease
Nutrition-related chronic diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, obesity, and diabetes, among others are becoming increasingly common in the developing world as a result of changes in diet and physical activity. AED recognizes that prevention of these conditions is most effectively addressed by a range of integrated policies and programs. Prevention starts with achieving optimal fetal and infant growth, and continues throughout the life course with the promotion of healthy diets and active living at each stage. There is a strong need in both developed and developing countries to put in place policies and guidelines to address nutrition related chronic diseases. As a way to inform policy makers and demonstrate the need for integrated policies and programs, AED has developed a computer-based advocacy tool, PROFILES, to quantify the functional consequences of obesity as a causal variable in relation to the health care costs, productivity costs, and mortality associated with different chronic diseases. AED programs in the developing world build on our extensive experience working on these same issues in U.S.-based programs.

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