International Workshop on the Integration of Community-Based Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) April 28-30, 2008, Washington, DC UPDATE: The workshop is now completely full and closed to additional Expressions of Interest. Learn more about the workshop The FANTA Project web site is made possible through the support provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) under terms of the cooperative agreement awarded to the Academy for Educational Development (AED). The information provided on this web site is not official U.S. Government information and does not represent the views or positions of USAID or the U.S. Government.

Review of Community-based Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) in the Post-emergency Context: Synthesis of Lessons on Integration of CMAM into National Health Systems

With Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) incorporated into government health facilities and protocols to varying degrees in Ethiopia, Malawi and Niger, USAID's FANTA Project undertook a comprehensive review of the challenges, successes and lessons learned from the experience in these three countries. The synthesis report discusses recommendations for successful and sustainable integration of CMAM, outlining specific steps donors, Ministries of Health, the UN and NGOs can take to facilitate the process and next steps needed to expand the knowledge and evidence base for CMAM integration.

Download the synthesis report

Dietary Diversity as a Measure of Women's Diet Quality in Resource-Poor Areas: Results from Rural Bangladesh Site

Simple population-level indicators are needed to assess the quality of women’s diets and to monitor progress in improving diets. FANTA is working with a number of researchers on a Women’s Dietary Diversity Project (WDDP), whose broad objective is to use existing data sets with dietary intake data from 24-hour recall to analyze the relationship between simple indicators of diet diversity–such as those that could be derived from the new Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS)–and dietary quality for women.

With funding from USAID’s Bureau for Global Health, the WDDP is analyzing data sets from five countries: Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mozambique and the Philippines. The final report for Bangladesh indicates that food group diversity indicators may be a simple and valid option for population-level assessment and for monitoring progress toward improved micronutrient intakes among women of reproductive age.

Download the report

Essential Nutrition Actions in Public Health Programs in Ethiopia

The Essential Nutrition Actions (ENA) package is an approach to expand the coverage of seven affordable and evidence-based actions to improve the nutritional status of women and children, especially those under two years of age. FANTA’s Review of Incorporation of Essential Nutrition Actions into Public Health Programs in Ethiopia found that the approach has been incorporated into the Ethiopia Federal Ministry of Health system and multilateral and NGO programming, however, improved training and other steps are necessary to further institutionalize the approach. The review, requested by USAID/Ethiopia, examined a number of facilitating and inhibiting factors to ENA integration in the context of Ethiopia’s health system.

Download the review

Sudan Food Assistance Transition Study

USAID's FANTA Project and TANGO International have released Sudan Food Assistance Transition Study. The report provides an analysis of the key issues related to food insecurity and the high rates of malnutrition in Southern Sudan and the Three Areas (Abyei, the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile). It examines current Title II activities and recommends how to increase their impact on food security and nutrition. The study proposes possible steps for addressing food security through development of an integrated food security strategy and by leveraging Title II and Disaster Assistance funds in a complementary manner that emphasizes the multiple transitions taking place in the areas of livelihoods, education, health, nutrition, institutions and security.

Download the study

Comparing Preventive and Recuperative Approaches to Targeting Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition Programs in Haiti

FANTA's five-year effectiveness study on food-assisted nutrition programs demonstrated that a preventive approach is more effective in reducing child malnutrition than a recuperative approach: after three years, the prevalence of stunting, underweight and wasting was significantly lower in the preventive communities than in communities where a recuperative approach had been used.

Read more about the study and subsequent article found in The Lancet Journal

International Workshop on the Integration of Community-Based Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM)

April 28-30, 2008, Washington, DC

At the request of USAID, FANTA is hosting an International Workshop on the Integration of CMAM in Washington DC, sponsored by USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance and Office of Health, Infectious Diseases and Nutrition. The workshop is being organized jointly with UN, MOH and NGO partners. The April 2008 workshop is expected to provide an opportunity to share current practices in the integration and scale-up of Community-Based Management of Acute Malnutrition.

Learn more about the workshop

Kenya Trainer's Manual and Trainee Toolkit for Nutrition in Comprehensive Care Centers

To strengthen the capacity of HIV service providers to provide effective nutritional care and support, USAID/Kenya supported FANTA in working with the Government of Kenya's National AIDS and STI Control Program to develop a trainer's manual and trainee tools for a Kenya national training course on nutrition and HIV. Nutrition Management in Comprehensive Care Centres in Kenya: A Trainer's Manual and Nutrition and HIV/AIDS: A Toolkit for Service Providers in the Comprehensive Care Centres are intended for service providers from Comprehensive Care Centers (CCC), the health care facilities where HIV patients are treated. FANTA also conducted trainings of CCC service providers using the training course.

The training materials are available for download

Trigger Indicators and Early Warning and Response Systems in Multi-Year Title II Assistance Programs

In geographic areas and populations chronically vulnerable to food insecurity, early warning and response (EWR) systems can provide necessary information to help modify program interventions and increase resources in response to shocks. Trigger indicators (TIs) are one such EWR mechanism. USAID's Office of Food for Peace (FFP) and FANTA have published FFP Occasional Paper 5, Trigger Indicators and Early Warning and Response Systems in Multi-Year Title II Assistance Programs to allow Cooperating Sponsors (CSs) a greater degree of flexibility in responding to emerging crises and shocks in their areas of operation without the risk of potentially undermining advances being achieved by development interventions. Occasional Paper 5 is designed to briefly review CSs' experiences with operationalizing TIs and EWR systems to-date, outline the key characteristics of EWR systems and TIs within the Title II-supported multi-year assistance program (MYAP) context, and provide suggestions on how to best operationalize FFP guidance on incorporating EWR mechanisms, including TIs, into MYAPs. 

Download FFP Occasional Paper 5

Food Assistance Programming in the Context of HIV

Food Assistance Programming in the Context of HIV (2007): Food Assistance Programming in the Context of HIV, a joint publication by WFP and FANTA, is a guide developed to improve the design and implementation of food security programs that respond to HIV-related challenges as well as HIV programs that utilize food and food-related activities to achieve HIV-related outcomes. The guide provides a set of tools, promising practices and key considerations that enhance the flexibility and appropriateness of program design and implementation modalities, and has been developed for program directors, program advisors and senior program managers who are directly involved in the analysis and formulation of food assistance strategies and country program activities at HQ and in regional and field offices.

Download Food Assistance Programming in the Context of HIV

Girl Guides Anemia Prevention Badge Project

FANTA and the Regional Center for Quality of Health Care (RCQHC), in partnership with the African Regional Office of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), designed the Girl Guides Anemia Prevention Badge Project, a program to reach adolescent girls in East and Southern Africa with information and activities on anemia prevention and control. Under the program, Girl Guides (ages 7-18) can earn a badge in anemia prevention through educational programs and community involvement in anemia control. FANTA and RCQHC developed an Anemia Prevention Badge Handbook and Workbook for the Girl Guides as well as a training manual for Girl Guide leaders.

Anemia and iron deficiency remain at epidemic levels among women and children in many nations. Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is associated with 22% of maternal deaths and 24% of perinatal deaths, according to a recent meta-analysis. Correcting anemia of any severity reduces the risk of death, the analysis also showed. These estimates of the maternal and perinatal deaths associated with IDA underscore the importance of implementing a package of interventions, such as the Girl Guides badge project, to address the multiple causes of anemia.

Download Anemia Prevention Badge Handbook, Workbook and Guiders' Training Manual