Since mid-2020, DataDENT team members have been actively involved in Standing Together for Nutrition (STfN)—a multidisciplinary consortium of economics, nutrition, and health systems experts committed to addressing COVID-related nutrition challenges. To date the consortium has released two papers presenting results from modeling exercises that project the impacts of COVID-related interruptions to economic and health systems on maternal and child nutrition…
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What data do nutrition stakeholders use and how can we better meet their needs?
The global nutrition community is remarkably diverse: its stakeholders include people working in vastly different fields, from health to agriculture, to water and sanitation and in roles ranging from program management to policy development to issue-based advocacy. Some work for small community-based organizations while others work for national governments, or huge multilateral or UN organizations with a global focus. It’s logical…
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Tracking India’s Progress on Addressing Malnutrition and Enhancing the Use of Data to Improve Programs
In collaboration with Partnerships and Opportunities to Strengthen and Harmonize Actions for Nutrition in India (POSHAN), NITI Aayog, and ID Insight, DataDENT developed a joint report addressing considerations for improving the availability and use of data to improve nutrition programs in India. The report shares a comprehensive indicator framework aligned with India’s National Nutrition Mission, POSHAN Abhiyaan, and describes a theory…
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2020 DataDENT Highlights
2020 will be remembered as a year the world radically changed, but it was also a year that reminded us of the importance of fundamental structures and systems. Now, as much as ever, strengthening the nutrition data value chain (DVC) is needed to address the challenges COVID-19 crisis poses to food, nutrition, and health globally. During 2020, DataDENT partners—the Johns…
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Strengthening nutrition data visualization at the Nutrition Society of Nigeria annual conference
In November 2020, the Nutrition Society of Nigeria (NSN) held is 50th Annual General Meeting and Scientific conference titled “Improving Nutrition Intervention Outcomes in Nigeria through Evidence-Based Nutrition, Data Generation and Dissemination” in Kaduna State. DataDENT members remotely led two pre-conference sessions focused on improving data visualization practices in nutrition for over 300 participants. During the first session, “Data visualization…
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Champions of Change: How NITI Aayog is improving a data visualization tool for data-driven policy and decision making
The Champions of Change (COC) Dashboard was developed by NITI Aayog to monitor district progress and aid in decision making. In our conversation with Rama Kamaraju, Data Scientist at NITI Aayog, we discussed the use of data under the Aspirational Districts Program (ADP) and how the COC Dashboard supports data-driven policy making in India. In 2019-2020, DataDENT implemented by the…
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Understanding the Role of Cognitive Interviewing in Improving Survey Questions
While answering a survey questionnaire, how do the respondents interpret the questions? What techniques of cognitive interviewing can facilitate appropriate framing of the questions? These are important considerations to have while designing survey questions to ensure that they clearly communicate the question’s intent and elicit responses aligned with the intended interpretation. To look at these concepts more closely, IFPRI—an implementing…
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Evidence and lessons on improving data use and quality in India’s nutrition program
To strengthen nutrition information systems and improve nutrition outcomes in India, we must improve data quality and facilitate the use of data at all levels. This was the theme of one of the key thematic sessions at ‘Delivering for Nutrition in India: Insights from Implementation Research 2020’, a virtual event co-hosted by Partnerships and Opportunities to Strengthen and Harmonize Actions…
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Measure & Adapt: How are school feeding programs changing during COVID-19?
Schools across the world closed alongside national lockdowns to contain the spread of COVID-19, leaving many children without access to school meals. Schools are important platforms for delivering high-impact health, nutrition-specific, and nutrition-sensitive interventions like school feeding programs. The World Food Programme (WFP) launched the Global Monitoring of School Meals during COVID-19 School Closures map in March 2020 to track…
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Unpacking a framework for measuring infant and young child feeding counselling coverage in household surveys
Infant and young child feeding (IYCF) counselling is important to facilitate optimal feeding practices and improve child survival. I sat down with Sunny Kim, Research Fellow with the International Food Policy Research Institute and DataDENT team member, to discuss the recent paper “Measuring coverage of infant and young child feeding counselling interventions: A framework and empirical considerations for survey question…