nurition innovation labs: research agenda
DESCRIPTION
Presentation on the research activities of Nutrition Innovation Lab and Capacity Building EffortsTRANSCRIPT
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Nutrition Innovation Laboratory:Research Agenda
Many collaborators:
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Nutrition Innovation Lab – over-arching questions
In what ways do investments in agriculture achieve significant measurable impacts in nutrition? Can impact pathways be empirically demonstrated?
How can we scale-up programs that incorporate such knowledge into cost-effective multi-sectoral actions?
How can implementation processes be enhanced to support both nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive actions?
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In Nepal
21 randomly selected districts Collecting data on households’ agriculture,
health, nutrition (5,400 children/mothers) Linked to data on capacity and resources of
ministries and program implementers
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Identifying causes of malnutrition in Nepal
What factors linked to agriculture contributes to poor child growth?
What role for local diet in treating worst cases of malnutrition?
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Interviewing women in Nepal
Health seeking behaviors Sanitation/hygiene practiceKnowledge of food safetyDietary choices
Individual Household Community
Nutritional status, Dietary intake, Morbidity history
Socioeconomic status, Assets, Income, Expenditure
Agriculture, Nutrition, Health personnel
Receipt & use of maternal and child health services
Land Use, Agriculture production, Animal Ownership
Community infrastructure
Health, nutrition & child care knowledge
Program Participation, Agriculture/Health training and
inputs
Market prices for key foods
Women’s decision making Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Market prices for agricultural inputs
Data Domains for Nepal Community Surveys
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Programme and Policy Stages and Stakeholders
Source: Leroy J L , Menon P (2008) J. Nutr. 138:628-9
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What incentives promote inter-ministry collaboration?What constraints are faced in trying to work across sectors?What resources (human/institutional capacity) are missing? Is there common understanding of nutrition and agriculture problems across ministries?
Do weak institutions or constraints to collaboration filter down to affect nutrition outcomes on the ground?
Interviewing Policymakers in Nepal
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In Uganda
6 districts. Collecting panel data on households agriculture, health, and nutrition (5,400 children). Linked to data on capacity and resources of ministries and programs.
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Data collection in Uganda
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Timeline:
First rounds of data collected, cleaned Feeding back to national governments for their use in improving policy processes Second rounds data collection Fall 2013 Panels to be repeated over 7 years (if research extended to 2020).
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Nutrition Innovation Lab – Capacity Building
Individuals, Groups and Institutions
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Short-term training 275 students trained over the last 3 years. More than 100 of these trainees were female.
Students chosen based on agreed Nutrition Innovation Lab Student Training Criteria
Support given for curriculum development at medical schools in Nepal and public health universities in Uganda and Malawi.
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Longer-term training 15 Master’s degree students currently
studying public health, nutrition science, agricultural economics, food science
4 doctoral students studying nutrition and agriculture in the USA
1 Post-Doctoral position support in Uganda
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Degree Training Locations: In USA: Tufts University, Johns Hopkins University, Purdue
University, Harvard University, Tuskegee University Global: Makerere University (Uganda), St Johns Research Institute
(India), IFPRI (Kampala, Uganda), Bunda College (Malawi)
Short Term Training Summer Institutes in public health and nutrition (Harvard, Johns
Hopkins, Tribuvan University in Nepal) Original research experience gained, and presentations at national
symposiums (Cornell, Boston University, Tufts)
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