The first 1,000 days – the time between conception and a child’s second birthday – is a critical window for physical and neurological development strongly influenced by nutrition, which impacts a child’s future health and potential. Effective implementation of maternal, infant and young child nutrition interventions during this period can lead to improved health outcomes which include decreased maternal anaemia, incidence of low birthweight and preterm delivery, and prevalence of stunting.
However, many nutrition interventions across the first 1,000 days are not consistently implemented or executed as intended. Frontline health workers face many challenges to adopting and delivering these interventions with quality and efficiency at all touchpoints across the full 1,000 days. One of these gaps exists in the area of the nutrition counselling provided by healthcare providers to beneficiaries. This project intentionally focuses on improving nutrition services with an emphasis on delivering high-quality interpersonal nutrition counselling (IPNC).
