STRENGTHENING GMP SERVICES DELIVERY THROUGH MOBILE APPLICATION IN BANGLADESH
Under the leadership of the National Nutrition Services (NNS) Operational Plan of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), Alive & Thrive is developing a mobile application (mApp) solution based on the Open-source Smart Register Platform (OpenSRP) with technology partner mPower Social Enterprises Ltd, to facilitate the integration of Growth Monitoring and Promotion (GMP) services through the national Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI). The new mApp will help to ensure standardization and quality of service. Frontline workers (FLWs), frontline supervisors (FLSs), and managers from national and sub-national levels will use the map, including its special features to engage directly with mothers and caregivers of children receiving services.
With this mApp, the FLWs will be able to register and track the child’s growth progress and record GMP data. The mApp will assist FLWs in providing age-appropriate nutrition counseling during service provision. To reinforce the counseling, the mApp will automatically send follow-up nutrition awareness-raising text and voice messages, which are synchronized with the nationally approved infant and young child nutrition (IYCN)counseling materials messages used across the health system. To support supervision actions, the FLSs and the managers will be able to monitor staff and field activities on GMP delivered through EPI using the real-time dashboard. After successful completion of key steps in the software development cycle, the mApp is now ready for field testing. A&T is on track to start testing the mApp in July 2022 in one of the sub-districts, where NNS is piloting GMP service integration into the EPI platform.
EFFORTS TO INTEGRATE AND STRENGTHEN MATERNAL NUTRITION IN HEALTH SYSTEMS IN INDIA CONTINUE
Capacity building of district and block level officials on maternal Nutrition in Bihar, India

Alive & Thrive technically supported UNICEF in rolling out training on maternal nutrition, including counseling, both at the community and facility level in two batches in the districts of Gaya, Sitamarhi and Muzaffarpur, for district and block level officials on 16 and 17 June 2022. More than 81 personnel have participated in the training. The training will be further cascaded to the blocks of Sitamarhi and will be supervised and monitored on specific indicators by the block level staff. 
Strengthening counseling of pregnant women in ante-natal care services in Jharkhand, India 
Recently, National Health Mission (NHM), Government of Jharkhand has taken the initiative to integrate Maternal Nutrition (MN) interventions into Ante-Natal Care (ANC) platform at the facilities and Village, Health, Sanitation and Nutrition Day (VHSND) across the state. The directives and guidelines have been issued by the state to improve quality of ANC and MN services in the state. 

In this endeavor, Alive & Thrive, in collaboration with UNICEF and National Center of Excellence and Advanced Research on Diets (NCEARD), technically supported NHM Jharkhand in developing and customizing a set of Information, Education and Communication (IEC) material with standardized messages on MN to strengthen the counseling of pregnant women (PW) during ANC to implement across 24 districts. The MN IEC package includes an MN algorithm at VHSND and at facilities, flip books on addressing nutrition for at-risk pregnancy and on safe motherhood, gestational months card, recipe book, and thali model (“my plate” food guide) for normal, obese and underweight PW. The IEC material will be used by the service providers at facilities and VHSND for counseling during ANC and follow up home visits. 
BREASTFEEDING PROMOTED DURING POSHAN PATHSHALA IN UTTAR PRADESH, INDIA
The Government of Uttar Pradesh and Directorate of Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) has launched a campaign titled “No water, only breastfeeding” during POSHAN Pathshala. The campaign seeks to sensitize the ICDS functionaries and beneficiaries (PW & mothers of 0-24 months children) on the importance of exclusive breastfeeding. During the event, various interactive activities were organized at the Anganwadi Centers in the state. Alive & Thrive technically supported the Directorate of ICDS and UP Technical Support Unit (UPTSU) in organizing a one day webinar on 26th May 2022. The webinar was webcasted by National lnformatics Centre, Government of India and was participated by District Program Officers, Child Development Project Officers, Mukya Sevikas, Anganwadi Workers and beneficiaries from the community. To view the webinar, click here: POSHAN PATHSHALA | Webcast Services of National Informatics Centre, Government of India
RECENT PUBLICATION
Abstract: A Quality Improvement Initiative to Enhance the Treatment of Children with Severe Acute Malnutrition in Nepal

The Nepal government has formulated policy on quality assurance in health care services in 1998 AD. Despite the policy in place, Nepal’s Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition program has experienced several implementation challenges such as low coverage, stock outs of ready-to-use therapeutic food supplies, poor reporting, loss to follow up and sub-optimal counselling. To address these and build a culture of continuous service delivery improvement, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-supported Suaahara II program (integrated nutrition program) adopted and assessed a quality improvement (QI) approach. The QI is a problem-solving approach designed to improve service delivery. Since November 2019, Suaahara II has implemented the QI collaborative effort for 17 months in four municipalities of Rupandehi district to improve the quality of service catered to treating children with acute malnutrition. The QI collaboration was established in four municipalities of Rupaendehi district, aiming to improve the performance of the system of care with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) with focus on case identification, service quality and retention in care through the Outpatient Therapeutic Centre. The result showed that the QI approach helped improve SAM cure rate, limited loss-to-follow-up and improved quality of case management for children with SAM. To successfully and sustainably implement QI to improve service delivery, leadership and local government accountability, regular coaching support and collaborative team efforts are key.

For more, click here:
ANNOUNCEMENT
Results from India to feature during global webinar on “Integrating Maternal Nutrition into Antenatal Care Platforms”

Alive & Thrive will host a global webinar on July 14 at 18:30 IST / 13h GMT on integrating maternal nutrition into antenatal care platforms, which will feature results from implementation research in India. Dr. Sebanti Ghosh, senior technical advisor for Alive & Thrive in India, will speak during the event.

Global nutrition and maternal and child health (MCH) program designers, implementers, and researchers are invited to this global webinar to learn more about:
  • The feasibility of integrating maternal nutrition interventions into ANC platforms
  • Impacts on maternal and child nutrition practices
  • Systems strengthening needs and implications
  • Next steps for adaptation and scale up