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 The initiatives described above are focused around translating complex, integrated interventions and evaluating their impact both from the perspective of health outcomes and the processes of service delivery and systemic reform. These efforts therefore represent a mix of approaches to address relatively more “proximate” or “distal” determinants of health production and therefore combine the imperatives of community based strategies and health systems reform. At the same time, critical gaps persist in sectoral knowledge on the pathways to maternal and child nutrition, requiring both biomedical and social research and analysis in order to take forward effective interventions design. In this context, the SIG also supports specific research to address some of the critical questions on the barriers to achieving optimum maternal and child nutritional status. Two primary lines of investigation are.
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Pathways to behavioural change in maternal nutrition and child feeding practices, such as improved maternal diets and postnatal nutrition, breastfeeding practices, and the introduction of weaning and complementary foods for infants. This requires formative research into the mediating factors between the acceptance of nutrition related knowledge and its conversion into changes in behaviours and practices within communities and households. Such an understanding is critical to ensure that interventions do not remain information-driven, but are practice-oriented in their methodology and can improve the effectiveness of community-based agents and health service providers in conveying and converting behavioural change communication into optimum care practices.
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Improving the quality of maternal and child diets in the context of multiple micronutrient deficiencies. This includes research to directly address the quality and quantity of dietary intake through an analysis and evaluation of a range of approaches such as supplementation, fortification and dietary diversification. There is a particular interest in food-based strategies that account for the presence of multiple nutrient deficiencies and their interactions. These research findings can then be incorporated
in enhancing the effectiveness of existing health and nutrition programmes, such as
the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme.
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Critical gaps persist in sectoral knowledge on the pathways to maternal and child nutrition, requiring both biomedical and social research and analysis in order to take forward effective interventions design. In this context, ICCHN also supports specific research to address some of the critical questions on the barriers to achieving optimum maternal and child nutritional.
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