Although there have been great improvements in nutrition in India recently, there are still significant malnutrition-related illnesses that remain major public health issues in the country. For pregnant women and infants, this is a particular concern – about 20 million children are not exclusively breastfed (EBF) for the first six months, and about 13 million do not get quality, timely, and appropriate complementary feeding along with continued breastfeeding.
Maternal nutrition and infant and young child nutrition (MIYCN) is a growing area of focus to address these concerns. Alive & Thrive was an initiative supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that scales up nutrition to save lives, prevent illness, and contribute to healthy growth and development through improved maternal nutrition, breastfeeding, and complementary feeding. The initiative successfully scaled-up interventions that improved infant and young child feeding in several countries in Asia and Africa and is currently providing technical support for assessing the feasibility of scaling up and strengthening maternal nutrition interventions through existing MNCH service delivery platforms.
In India, through Alive and Thrive, John Snow India Private Limited (JSIPL) delivered technical assistance to 8 medical colleges and state health organizations in the states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh (UP) to provide support in identifying strategies for improving the implementation of MIYCN interventions and coverage indicators utilizing the following objectives:
JSIPL is conducting an institutional capacity assessment, visioning exercises with medical colleges, and enhancing the capacity of these colleges in supporting MIYCN as a priority in policy and service delivery.
John Snow India Private Limited (JSIPL), a subsidiary of JSI, is committed to its goal of improving health outcomes for populations in urban and rural areas within India. Between the JSI and JSIPL partnership, our projects in India are empowered to utilize a breadth of resources, our experience at building projects to scale and unmatched institutional knowledge in the field of global health. JSIPL was established to complement our global technical expertise with local knowledge of public needs and to strengthen overall project management and coordination.
We strive to build lasting relationships to produce better health outcomes for all.
