Development Of A Global Strategy On Infant And Young Child Feeding

WHO and UNICEF jointly developed this global strategy to focus world attention on the impact that feeding practices have on the nutritional status, growth and development, health, and thus the very survival of infants and young children. The strategy is the result of a comprehensive two-year participatory process. It is based on the evidence of nutrition's significance in the early months and years of life, and of the crucial role that appropriate feeding practices play in achieving optimal health outcomes. The strategy is intended as a guide for action; it identifies interventions with a proven positive impact; it emphasizes providing mothers and families the support they need to carry out their crucial roles, and it explicitly defines the obligations and responsibilities in this regards of governments, international organizations, and other concerned parties.

This exciting book, edited by Fiona Dykes and Victoria Hall Moran and with a foreword from Gretel Pelto, explores in an integrated context the varied factors associated with infant and child nutrition, including global feeding strategies, cultural factors, issues influencing breastfeeding, and economic and life cycle influences

The Model Chapter on Infant and Young Child Feeding is intended for use in basic training of health professionals. It describes essential knowledge and basic skills that every health professional who works with mothers and young children should master. The Model Chapter can be used by teachers and students as a complement to textbooks or as a concise reference manual.

The evaluation of reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health (RMNCH) by the Disease Control Priorities, Third Edition (DCP3) focuses on maternal conditions, childhood illness, and malnutrition. Specifically, the chapters address acute illness and undernutrition in children, principally under age 5. It also covers maternal mortality, morbidity, stillbirth, and influences to pregnancy and pre-pregnancy. Volume 3 focuses on developments since the publication of DCP2 and will also include the transition to older childhood, in particular, the overlap and commonality with the child development volume. The DCP3 evaluation of these conditions produced three key findings: 1. There is significant difficulty in measuring the burden of key conditions such as unintended pregnancy, unsafe abortion, nonsexually transmitted infections, infertility, and violence against women. 2. Investments in the continuum of care can have significant returns for improved and equitable access, health, poverty, and health systems. 3. There is a large difference in how RMNCH conditions affect different income groups; investments in RMNCH can lessen the disparity in terms of both health and financial risk.

The objective of this guideline is to provide global, science-informed recommendations on infant feeding in areas of Zika virus transmission. The primary audience of this guideline is health professionals responsible for developing national and local health protocols, especially those related to infant feeding in infancy and early childhood. The primary audience also includes those directly providing care to infants, such as nurses, general medical practitioners, paediatricians, managers of maternal, newborn and child health programmes and relevant personnel in health ministries, in all settings. Lastly, this guideline is also of interest to pregnant or breastfeeding women living or travelling to areas where Zika virus transmission continues. This guideline aims to help WHO Member States and their partners to make science-informed decisions on the appropriate actions in their efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, the resolutions of the World Health Assembly on infant and young child feeding and the global targets put forward in the comprehensive implementation plan on maternal, infant and young child nutrition, the global strategy for infant and young child feeding and the Zika Strategic Response Plan.

This guideline provides global, evidence-informed recommendations on protection, promotion and support of optimal breastfeeding in facilities providing maternity and newborn services, as a public health intervention. It is intended to contribute to discussions among stakeholders when selecting or prioritizing appropriate actions in their efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and the global targets for 2025 as put forward in the Comprehensive implementation plan on maternal, infant and young child nutrition, endorsed by the Sixty-fifth World Health Assembly in 2012, in resolution WHA65.6, the Global strategy for women's, children's, and adolescents' health (2016-2030), and the Global Strategy for infant and young child feeding. The document presents the key recommendations, a summary of the supporting evidence and a description of the considerations that contributed to the deliberations and consensus decision-making.