Professor Andrew Tomkins is the International Team Leader of the Operational Research and Impact Evaluation (ORIE) project. In this video, Professor Tomkins discusses the future of the Working to Improve Nutrition in Northern Nigeria (WINNN) project and puts forward a brief proposal of what WINNN 2 might look like in the future.
WINNN 2 Aims:
– Preventing stunting
– Reducing child mortality
– Preventing anaemia in women and children
– Preventing low birth weight (LBW)
WINNN 2 Target Groups:
– School age children, including adolescents
– Women of reproductive age and pregnancy
– Neonates
– Infants and young children
WINNN 2 Interventions
Professor Tomkins describes two types of nutrition interventions for improving maternal and child nutrition, especially within “first 1000 days”: nutrition-specific interventions (Nut SPE) and nutrition-sensitive interventions (Nut SEN). Nut SPE interventions are interventions that are explicitly nutrition-related (e.g. micronutrient supplementation); Nut SEN interventions are interventions that did not necessarily start off as Nut SPE but have had positive impacts on health. The work of WINNN is based on a strong evidence-based theory of change for nutrition. See The Lancet for articles on the benefits of certain Nut SPE and Nut SEN interventions.
Four Nut SPE interventions put forward to achieve the 4 aims:
– CMAM (community management of acute malnutrition), a methodology for treating acute malnutrition in young children using a case-finding and triage approach
– Micronutrient supplementation
– Improve IYCF (infant and young child feeding) and maternal nutrition
– Increase awareness, uptake and provision of antenatal services
Four Nut SEN interventions put forward to achieve the 4 aims:
– Increase age at first pregnancy
– Prevent and treat infectious diseases
– Increase community engagement in nutrition programmes
– Improve government capacity and allocation/accountability for resources
Three links with Nut SEN programmes:
– Mainstream nutrition and health within basic education of boys and girls
– Incorporate WASH programmes wherever possible
– Integrate with social protection programmes for the vulnerable to ensure equitable food security
Professor Tomkins concludes his talk by considering strategies for how to prepare and implement WINNN 2. He calls for stakeholders to use Evidence-Based Theory of Change (EB-TOC), building on the positive experiences of Nut SPE interventions provided by WINNN/government collaboration, to collaborate with government departments and agencies providing Nut SEN interventions, to produce an operational plan with clearly ascribed roles, tasks and resource for Nut SPE and Nut SEN, and to support the agreed nutrition programme for at least 3 years before adding new interventions.
To learn more about the WINN project, click here to watch the HEART Talk, Ibrahim Oloriegbe on the Working to Improve Nutrition in Northern Nigeria (WINNN) project.
To learn more about the Government of Nigeria’s take on WINNN and the potential for WINNN to continue to make an impact, click here to watch the HEART Talk, Lessons Learned from the Working to Improve Nutrition in Northern Nigeria (WINNN) project: A Government Perspective.