Recording:

Facilitator(s):  

• Gilles Bergeron, New York Academy of Sciences

• Steve Vosti, University of California Davis 

• Edward Joy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine 

• Elaine Ferguson, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine 

• Frances Knight, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Description and Learning Objectives

This session will introduce participants to the Nutrition Modeling Consortium, and to some of the tools that consortium members have developed and used to help select, design and manage evidence-based nutrition policies and nutrition intervention programs. Participants will be split into teams, each receiving a policy- or programme-relevant question, e.g., “Should vitamin A supplementation programmes be scaled-back in Nepal?”, or, “to what extent might food fortification cost-effectively address iron-deficiency anemia among women of reproductive age?” The teams will be asked to design a strategy for answering their policy- and programmatic relevant question, using one or a combination of the modelling tools available, with some time spent addressing underlying data needs and the pathways through which new model-based information would flow to reach decision-makers. Teams will present their findings back to the wider group followed by a plenary discussion.  

After completing the Learning Lab, participants will be better informed on how to frame their nutrition policy issues, how select the appropriate tool for given types of nutrition policy or programmatic questions / decisions, how to access and use the tools, the tools’ strengths and limitations, and the data inputs and skills required to use them. 

Preparatory materials to be reviewed in advance of live session

• Participants are asked to please complete the following survey no later than Monday 22 June at noon BST: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/57LYRLL

• Recommended readings:

  • Optifood Brief

  • MINIMOD Brief

  • MAPS Brief

  • Introduction to MAPS tool

  • Multiple Micronutrients and Hidden Hunger Discussion Paper

  • Improving Data Use for Nutrition Policy

  • Strategies to achieve adequate vitamin A intake for young children: options for Cameroon

• Supplementary readings:

  • MINIMOD Project Summary

  • Weighing the risks of high intakes of selected micronutrients compared with the risks of deficiencies

  • An Economic Optimization Model for Improving the Efficiency of Vitamin A Interventions

  • Measuring the Cost of Vitamin A Interventions

  • Estimating the Effective Coverage of Programs to Control Vitamin A Deficiency and Its Consequences Among Women and Young Children in Cameroon

  • Use of Optimization Modeling for Selecting National Micronutrient Intervention Strategies

  • Designing Appropriate Complementary Feeding Recommendations: Tools for Programmatic Action

  • Realistic Food-Based Approaches Alone May Not Ensure Dietary Adequacy for Women and Young Children in South-East Asia

  • Design of Optimal Food-Based Complementary Feeding Recommendations and Identification of Key "Problem Nutrients" Using Goal Programming

  • Zinc, Iron and Calcium Are Major Limiting Nutrients in the Complementary Diets of Rural Kenyan Children

  • Constraints and Opportunities for Implementing Nutrition-Specific, Agricultural and Market-Based Approaches to Improve Nutrient Intake Adequacy Among Infants and Young Children in Two Regions of Rural Kenya