Topic: Infant Health

Qualitative Paid Leave Report: Furthering Our Case for Paid Leave in the United States

Our latest report, Qualitative Paid Leave Report: Furthering Our Case for Paid Leave in the United States, is based on a study we commissioned to examine how lack of paid leave affects the well-being of new mothers and their babies, particularly women working in low-wage jobs, and to amplify the experiences of low-wage working mothers in their own words. By interviewing and surveying 20 women in five states that did not require workers to have access to paid leave, we learned about how mothers navigate the experiences, demands and joys of motherhood.

For more about the report, our work with paid leave and how you can help, visit here.

Management of At-risk Mothers and Infants under 6 months (MAMI): experiences from community programming

The vision for MAMI is that every infant under 6 months is nutritionally assessed and appropriately supported to survive and thrive, at every community and health-service contact.

In this short video Save the Children share experiences from the field of utilizing the MAMI Approach in Bangladesh and Ethiopia to save the lives of vulnerable infants who may otherwise be missed. To see the MAMI Tool for programming from Save the Children and GOAL, visit here.

MAMI can help save the lives of vulnerable infants.
But we need your help: To see them. To assess them. To provide support.
Contact: mami@savechildren.org for queries and further support.

This video was developed by Save the Children in collaboration with GOAL, with financial support from Eleanor Crook Foundation (ECF) and technical support from the MAMI Global Network.

Reflections on the UN Global Action Plan (GAP) on Child Wasting: How can the GAP on Child Wasting address gaps in continuity of care?

The release of Field Exchange 60 coincided with UN Agencies global initiative to determine how they could provide a more unified response to care for wasted children. In March 2020, five UN agencies (UNICEF, WFP, WHO, UNHCR, FAO) published the Global Action Plan (GAP) on Child Wasting: A Framework for Action (see box 2). In May 2020, the Field Exchange Team reviewed the Field Exchange 60 priority actions relative to the GAP Framework. This brief outlines findings to help inform next steps in the development and finalisation of the GAP on Child Wasting.

Combating Severe Malnutrition in the First 1,000 Days

This infographic shows specific nutrition interventions that span the course of the critical 1,000-day period between a woman’s pregnancy and a child’s second birthday when there is a unique window of opportunity to build healthier and more prosperous futures for mothers and their babies.

Vaccinations, Nutrition, and COVID-19

Key messages about how vaccinations, nutrition, and COVID-19 are connected. The following organizations contributed to this messaging: Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN), 1,000 Days, ACTION Global Health Advocacy Partnership, HarvestPlus/IFPRI, Save the Children Japan, Save the Children UK, Eleanor Crook Foundation, Power of Nutrition, RESULTS UK, and Nutrition International.

The Power 4 Nutrition Interventions

Malnutrition has many root causes including poverty, lack of education, erratic seasonal crop cycles, climate change, women’s inequality, and poor access to water, sanitation, and hygiene. As the world works to tackle these major challenges, which will help end child malnutrition in the long-term, there are four essential actions we can take now to prevent children from dying of severe malnutrition. These interventions span the course of the critical 1,000-day period between a woman’s pregnancy and a child’s second birthday when there is a unique window of opportunity to build healthier and more prosperous futures for mothers and their babies.

  • Supply all pregnant women with prenatal vitamins
  • Support breastfeeding mothers
  • Continue large-scale Vitamin A Supplementation
  • Expand coverage of specialized foods for treatment

Webinar: Protecting, Promoting and Supporting Breastfeeding amid COVID-19

Dr. Larry Grummer-Strawn, Technical Officer Dept. of Nutrition and Food Safety at the World Health Organization (WHO), presents to the International Coalition for Advocacy on Nutrition (ICAN) regarding the official guidance, challenges, and concerns with promoting, protecting, and supporting breastfeeding in the time of COVID-19. The WHO continues to recommend mothers with suspected COVID symptoms who choose to breastfeed can as long as they practice proper respiratory and hand hygiene. Read more here.

Nourishing Gender Equality: How Nutrition Interventions are an Underleveraged Tool in the Fight for Women’s Rights

The nutrition and women’s empowerment sectors are mutually reinforcing, and it is time to link them more intentionally. Nutrition interventions are critical to making concrete, cost-effective, and long-lasting improvements to the status of women and girls around the world.

There are three specific areas where a more intentional focus on nutrition offers advantages for women and girls in their fight for gender equality:

  • From even before a girl is born, good nutrition is a crucial component in supporting her lifelong right to Health and Survival, allowing women to live longer, better lives.
  • By boosting individual workforce participation and earning potential, good nutrition has a proven positive impact on women’s full and equal Economic Participation and Opportunity.
  • Access to good nutrition allows girls’ brains to develop fully and impacts how well women and girls can perform in school. It also secures their right to equal Educational Attainment with men and boys.