WASH
WASHCountry-led political and financial commitments to nutrition goals are widely recognized as critical to reducing malnutrition at scale. This report seeks to examine the relationship between country-level nutrition policy, implementation leadership, donor support and coordination, and nutrition outcomes at a national or subnational level. The analysis focuses on reducing the prevalence of stunting in countries… Read more
This report is a summary of an extensive evaluation undertaken by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) of its response to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. It focuses on Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Maldives — countries that had the most serious damage and received 84 per cent of UNICEF tsunami country-level funds. The evaluation mainly… Read more
This helpdesk provides a rapid analysis on the existing evidence related to effective behaviour change interventions. It has a particular focus on where interventions are related to hygiene and sanitation, nutrition, gender based violence, indoor air pollution, family planning adoption, unsafe sex, motor vehicle driving. The geographic focus is Malawi, but where necessary it draws… Read more
This Topic Guide aims to answer the question ‘What is the interaction between social development issues and human development outcomes?’ An individual’s right to lead a long and healthy life, to be educated and to enjoy a decent standard of living cannot be realised without addressing social development issues. This is because these issues determine… Read more
This rapid review looks at the evidence on Early Childhood Development (ECD) models (including integrated approaches) in Malawi and in the Sub-Saharan African region, looking at the impact on child development and learning. Most of the evidence from Malawi focuses on Community Based Childcare Centres (CBCC) which are the main centre based model for ECD… Read more
Looking back on 25 years of water, sanitation and hygiene monitoring, the report provides a comprehensive assessment of progress since 1990. The MDG target for drinking water was achieved in 2010 but the world has missed the sanitation target by almost 700 million people. In 2015, 663 million people still lack improved drinking water sources,… Read more
Intensive handwashing promotion can reduce diarrheal and respiratory disease incidence. To determine whether less intensive, more scalable interventions can improve health, we evaluated a school-based handwashing program. We randomized 87 Chinese schools to usual practices: standard intervention (handwashing program) or expanded intervention (handwashing program, soap for school sinks, and peer hygiene monitors). We compared student… Read more
The dominant nutrition discourse concerns access to adequate food and its quality. It now includes food security, food rights and justice, governance and agriculture. Despite many initiatives to assure food access, and growing economies, high levels of undernutrition persist in much of Asia. It is increasingly suggested that much of this ‘Asian enigma’ can now… Read more
In the past few years, new evidence has shown that investments in nutrition encourage healthy growth of children, nations, and economies. Optimal nutrition from the start of a woman’s pregnancy to her child’s second birthday 1,000 days later, provides an optimal opportunity to influence cognitive development and growth and improve chances for a successful future. Furthermore, through the global… Read more
This was an extensive query to tackle in 3 days. The result is an annotated bibliography covering a selection of key papers identified through a rapid search on the different nutrition interventions. Section 2 includes a number of resources on community-based management with evaluations finding it to be cost effective. Sections 3-5 are on breastfeeding,… Read more
Despite economic growth, government latrine construction, and increasing recognition among policy-makers that it constitutes a health and human capital crisis, open defecation remains stubbornly widespread in rural India. Indeed, 67% of rural Indian households in the 2011 census reported defecating in the open. We present evidence from new survey data collected in villages in five… Read more