Editorial
It has been a very busy time for the wider nutrition community. There is a sense of urgency to do more to tackle current levels of malnutrition and this is reflected in a number of the articles and global themes covered in this 9th issue of Nutrition Exchange. The FAO State of Food Security and Nutrition report (page 5) for example, gives a worrying picture of the rise in hunger, for the first time since 2001. This is mainly (but not restricted to) fragile and conflict-affected settings, which account for a considerable proportion of stunting and wasting globally, as echoed in the 2017 Global Nutrition Report (page 4).
There are three articles from countries facing both development and emergency-related challenges. The article on war-torn Yemen (page 10) describes harnessing community leadership to increase access to nutrition services for mothers and children. Community-based interventions feature in an article from Niger (page 12) that describes Husband Schools, which focus on educating men to improve maternal and child health through nutrition, family planning and agriculture initiatives. The article on Nepal (page 27) looks at how female community health volunteers swap their sterile flipcharts for colourful, tactile trays of real food for nutrition counselling purposes to positive effect. Of course, scaling-up ‘what works’ is the next challenge – and both articles touch on plans to take relatively small-scale interventions to the next level.
‘Multi-sector’ and ‘nutrition-sensitive programming’ are terms that are constantly on everyone’s lips. But what is the reality of sectors working together at the sub-national level? ENN’s Knowledge Management specialists in Asia and Africa describe early findings from studies in Kenya, Nepal and Senegal (page 23); contexts may vary but there are already common lessons to share. Other stories in this issue that touch on the challenges of multi-sector coordination come from two West African countries. In Mauritania (page 16), little change in stunting prevalence over the last decade has prompted new ways of addressing malnutrition, and the development of a multi-sector nutrition plan with a strong behaviour change component through community structures. In Chad (page 14), innovation has come in the form of a new layer of co-ordination: the appointment of regional nutrition co-ordinators to link sectors and strengthen sectoral cooperation.
The SUN Movement embraces both the concept of scale-up and multi-sector programming and a number of tools and resources are available to support countries to achieve this. An article on technical assistance for SUN Member countries describes the experiences of Tajikistan and the Philippines (page 20) in accessing this support to develop a Common Results Framework and a plan of action for nutrition, respectively. The Joint Assessment process is another SUN tool that enables SUN networks to take stock of their common goals and objectives. An article considers observations of the process in two countries, Burkina Faso and Kenya (page 18). Another tool from the UN ‘family’ is the Compendium of Actions for Nutrition: the CAN, as it is known, has been used to great effect in Haiti and Myanmar (page 25) to drive home the multi-sectoral concept and the understanding that nutrition is every sector’s responsibility.
Finally, we’ve been really busy at ENN, too: read ‘What’s New at ENN?’ (page 8) to find out about a new online resource, NutritionGroups, the latest updated version of Operational Guidance on infant and young child feeding in emergencies, and the release of a new discussion paper on addressing stunting in protracted crisis contexts, among other initiatives. ENN had a prominent role at the recent SUN Movement Global Gathering and we share some thoughts from one of our team members who attended (on page 29).
We would also like to thank all the NEX readers who took part in the ENN impact survey for your insights into what we’re doing well (for example, providing opportunities to learn from the experiences of peers), as well as what we could do better (such as broaden the list of recipients with national networks around the government ministries and civil society). We value all feedback, so send us your ideas for sharing your invaluable experiences in tackling malnutrition. As with every issue, a huge thanks to all our contributors and happy reading!
Carmel Dolan, Co-editor, NEX
Judith Hodge, Co-editor, NEX
More like this
NEX: Editorial
This seventh issue of Nutrition Exchange introduces an exciting new phase in the publication's development, as ENN will now be publishing NEX twice a year and will bring...
NEX: Editorial
Listen to an interview with the editors (podcast) on ENN's MediaHub Welcome to this eighth issue of Nutrition Exchange (NEX), in which we have widened our geographical...
NEX: Editorial
View this article as a pdf Lisez cet article en français ici In November 2019, over one hundred countries came together in Katmandu, Nepal as part of the SUN Movement...
NEX: Editorial
Listen to an interview with the editors on the ENN podcast channel We're proud to introduce this tenth issue of Nutrition Exchange! The publication has grown from a digested...
NEX: Editorial
View this article as a pdf Lisez cet article en français ici Although we had not planned NEX11 to be themed, a common (and recurrent) thread emerges from the country...
NEX South Asia Editorial
Nutrition Exchange (NEX) is a long-standing ENN publication that captures the different experiences of countries in preventing and treating malnutrition. The focus of NEX has...
Editorial
View this article as a pdf Welcome to the second issue of Nutrition Exchange (NEX) South Asia. The South Asia region continues to bear the highest burden of child malnutrition...
FEX: Editorial
This issue of Field Exchange speaks largely to the themes of scaling up and integration of nutrition programming, as well as multi-sector approaches to addressing...
FEX: FEX 65 editorial themes
View this article as a pdf Dear readers, A warm welcome to the 65th edition of Field Exchange. This edition features a range of programming issues that unfortunately reflect...
ENN Latest
New technical brief on Adolescent-specific reporting of nutritional status. How the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) update benefits policy and programming.This technical...
NEX: Editorial
This issue of Nutrition Exchange is our sixth and we continue to profile the writing of those working at national and sub-national level. This issue contains 13 original...
NEX: What's new at ENN?
Nutrition Exchange: Preliminary results from user survey ENN conducted an impact survey in late 2017 with the aim of understanding how our global network of practitioners and...
FEX: Editorial
View this article as a pdf In this issue of Field Exchange we are delighted to feature, for the second year running, a special section that shares key outputs of Action...
FEX: ENN update
View this article as a pdf Field Exchange Special issue on wasting in South Asia Asia is home to half of the world's wasted children (25.9 million) and severely wasted...
FEX: Editorial
This 59th issue of Field Exchange covers an interesting range of subjects. Common themes include programme integration, nutrition-sensitive programming and piloting new...
Podcast: Emerging themes for SUN countries - FEX/NEX synthesis briefs
Global coordinator for ENN's SUN KM project, Natalie Sessions, and Nutrition Exchange (NEX) co-editor, Judith Hodge, discuss key findings from their review of articles from NEX...
FEX: Editorial
A number of the recommendations in the Grand Bargain reported on in the last issue of Field Exchange speak to the need to forge stronger links between humanitarian and...
FEX: Nutrition Exchange (NEX) South Asia: Maternal nutrition
View this article as a pdf In its first-ever regional issue, Nutrition Exchange has partnered with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Regional Office of South Asia...
FEX: Editorial
Dear readers, Following ENN's bumper issue of Field Exchange on the response to the Syria crisis (issue 48) this issue has reverted to our more normal non-thematic format...
FEX: Editorial
View this article as a pdf Dear Field Exchange readers, Welcome to the 64th edition of Field Exchange. We are delighted to kick start 2021 featuring a special section on...
Reference this page
Editorial. Nutrition Exchange 9, January 2018. p3. www.ennonline.net/nex/9/editorial
(ENN_5843)