Our global efforts to prevent malnutrition during the first 1000 days. Final report of the IYCN Project

Launched in 2006, the Infant &Young Child Nutrition (IYCN) Project was the flagship programme of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). This five-year project aimed to prevent maternal and child malnutrition focusing on interventions during the critical 1000 day window of opportunity (from conception until a child's second year of life). Three core principles underline the project's approach:

• focus on prevention,
• community involvement in addressing malnutrition
• strengthening health systems to improve services for mothers and children.

This report presents the IYCN project's key activities, accomplishments and recommendations for building on its experience in 16 countries (13 African countries, Peru, Haiti and Bangladesh).
It highlights several key points:

• Preventing malnutrition requires an enabling environment at the national level as well as in health facilities and communities
• promoting changes in feeding practices (such as practicing exclusive breastfeeding) requires a strategic communication approach that targets health workers, communities, and households, in addition to caregivers
• complementary feeding programmes could be enhanced by increasing understanding of practices, promoting optimal use of nutritious local foods and encouraging public-private partnership for food fortification (in particular fortified complementary foods for young children)
• special attention needs to be paid to infant feeding and HIV policies and programmes, with a particular focus on breastfeeding and building the capacity of health workers to strengthen nutritional support for HIV positive mothers
• integrating nutrition and agriculture interventions requires to develop practical tools to guide programme designers, facilitate multisectoral collaboration at the country-level and improve maternal diets as part of food security interventions
• strengthening health systems to improve nutrition services and health care for mothers and children.

The project also developed and disseminated a variety of tools and resources that can be used or adapted for different country settings. They are available at: www.iycn.org/resources

USAID - March 2012