Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2018 Jan;14(1):e12457.
doi: 10.1111/mcn.12457. Epub 2017 Jul 3.

Informing infant and young child feeding programming in humanitarian emergencies: An evidence map of reviews including low and middle income countries

Claudine Prudhon  1 , Prisca Benelli  1 , Ali Maclaine  1 , Paige Harrigan  1 , Jacqueline Frize  1
Affiliations
Review

Informing infant and young child feeding programming in humanitarian emergencies: An evidence map of reviews including low and middle income countries

Claudine Prudhon et al. Matern Child Nutr. 2018 Jan.

Abstract

Around 200 million people were affected by conflict and natural disasters in 2015. Whereas those populations are at a particular high risk of death, optimal breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices could prevent almost 20% of deaths amongst children less than 5 years old. Yet, coverage of interventions for improving infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices in emergencies is low, partly due to lack of evidence. Considering the paucity of data generated in emergencies to inform programming, we conducted an evidence map from reviews that included low- and middle-income countries and looked at several interventions: (a) social and behavioural change interpersonal and mass communication for promoting breastfeeding and adequate complementary feeding; (b) provision of donated complementary food; (c) home-based fortification with multiple micronutrient powder; (d) capacity building; (e) cash transfers; (f) agricultural or fresh food supply interventions; and (g) psychological support to caretakers. We looked for availability of evidence of these interventions to improve IYCF practices and nutritional status of infants and young children. We identified 1,376 records and included 28 reviews meeting the inclusion criteria. The highest number of reviews identified was for behavioural change interpersonal communication for promoting breastfeeding, whereas no review was identified for psychological support to caretakers. We conclude that any further research should focus on the mechanisms and delivery models through which effectiveness of interventions can be achieved and on the influence of contextual factors. Efforts should be renewed to generate evidence of effectiveness of IYCF interventions during humanitarian emergencies despite the challenges.

Keywords: breastfeeding; cash transfers; complementary feeding; feeding practices; infant; young child.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram of reviews
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Action against Hunger (n.d.) REFANI‐research on food assistance for nutritional impact. Availabe at: http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/refani (Accessed 10 June 2016).
    1. Ager, A. , Burnham, G. , Checchi, F. , Gayer, M. , Grais, R. F. , Henkens, M. , … Spiegel, P. (2014). Strengthening the evidence base for health programming in humanitarian crises. Science, 345, 1290–1292. - PubMed
    1. Allen, C. (2014). A resource for those preparing for and responding to natural disasters, humanitarian crises, and major healthcare emergencies. Journal of Evidence‐Based Medicine, 7(4), 234–237. - PubMed
    1. Arvelo, W. , Kim, A. , Creek, T. , Legwaila, K. , Puhr, N. , Johnston, S. , … Bowen, A. (2010). Case‐control study to determine risk factors for diarrhea among children during a large outbreak in a country with a high prevalence of HIV infection. International Journal of Infectious Diseases, 14(11), e1002–e1007. - PubMed
    1. Bassani, D. G. , Arora, P. , Wazny, K. , Gaffey, M. F. , Lenters, L. , & Bhutta, Z. A. (2013). Financial incentives and coverage of child health interventions: A systematic review and meta‐analysis. BMC Public Health, 13(Suppl 3), S30. - PMC - PubMed