Projects: Health, Nutrition & Food Security
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Current Projects
Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Initiative to promote maternal and child health and nutrition (MCHN) practices for female workers in Hai Phong, Vietnam.
The purpose of the SUN CSA is to mobilize national and international civil society organizations working to improve nutrition in Vietnam.
Evaluating and bringing to scale alternative food networks to address non-communicable disease in Ecuador
Low and middle-income countries (LMICs) are experiencing a nutritional shift from a predominance of problems of undernutrition, including micronutrient deficiencies, stunting and wasting, to a more complex situation characterized by a rapid increase in health problems associated with over-nutrition, such as obesity, diabetes mellitus (DM), hypertensive disease and other non-communicable diseases, (NCDs).
Past Projects
Harmonized Health Impact & Partnership Metrics to Accelerate Knowledge Sharing and Utilization
This project is part of the Canadian Collaborative for Global Health. The Collaborative brings together Canadian and global partners to generate solutions to urgent data challenges in global health and gender equality.
Maximizing use of existing data to strengthen program design, evaluation and impact, known as MaxData
This project is part of the Canadian Collaborative for Global Health. The Collaborative brings together Canadian and global partners to generate solutions to urgent data challenges in global health and gender equality.
EkoComer: Understanding and advancing the “250 Thousand Families” Responsible Consumption campaign in Ecuador
The Ekomer Consortium Research Program developed a unique research approach (Responsible Consumption Index). By means of continual sharing of information based on research of household-level food practice and anthropometrics and experimentation with marketing strategies, Ekomer supported actors involved in the QueRicoEs! Campaign, in particular from the Colectivo Agroecológico and the Movimeinto de Economia Social y Solidaria (MESSE), to directly and more strategically contribute to a number of policy interventions, in particular in the sphere of family and network level practices in agriculture and food.
Working within the context of an exciting civic-led “250 Thousand Families…
Improving dietary diversity and diet quality through systems innovation – A pilot study in Vietnam
Our goal was to identify best practices for improving farm and dietary diversity through participatory communities. We studied farming biodiversity, farming practices, dietary diversity, the food market and natural resources, and conducted analyses that will allow us to develop and test interventions that could improve farm and dietary diversity.
Nutrition and food security in uplands of Vietnam and Thailand
The goal of this project was to identify local and practical solutions to improve nutrition and food security of the smallholder farmers using “nutrition-sensitive agriculture solutions” (NSAS). NSAS means that we focus not only on the production of more food, but also the nutritional quality of the food, and what the farmers do with the food.
Evaluation of behaviour change interventions to improve coverage and adherence of zinc & oral rehydration solutions (ORS) for treatment of diarrhea in Senegal
A national mass media campaign is planned in Senegal to encourage families to proactively care for their young children when they have diarrhea. The radio and television messages will encourage families to take their sick child to a health facility, give the child oral rehydration solution (ORS) as well as zinc supplements, and ensure that they give the zinc supplements for the recommended 10 days. In one region of the country, health care providers will be given additional training to improve their counselling skills when they interact with families who bring in their child with diarrhea for treatment.
Small animals, big changes – Small animal husbandry to improve mother and child nutrition in rural Bolivia
The diet of the rural people of the Andes is based on tubers and grains and has very low levels of nutrient-dense, animal-source foods (meat, milk, eggs). The result is that dietary fat and various vitamins and minerals are often insufficient. In order to address this in a sustainable manner, HealthBridge is working with the Bolivian NGO CENDA to promote animal husbandry (sheep and chickens) in the Andean zone of the department of Cochabamba. Better animal management will lead to increased availability of animal-source foods, and, if promoted appropriately, this will result in increased consumption of these foods and…
Rapid assessment of impact of Ebola outbreak on integrated community case management in Liberia
Trained community health volunteers provide access to essential primary health care services in contexts where the health system lacks capacity to adequately deliver them. In Liberia, the Ebola outbreak further disrupted health system function. The objective of this study was to examine the value of a community-based health system in ensuring continued treatment of child illnesses during the outbreak and the role that volunteers had in Ebola prevention activities.
Diagnosing fevers better: Improving diagnosis of febrile illnesses by uniting disease ecology and satellite imagery
HealthBridge and colleagues at the University of Ottawa are working with partners in Tanzania to further refine the mosquito habitat mapping (described in the project “Increasing capacity in disease vector modelling to improve malaria and arbovirus mitigation strategies”). This work includes mapping seasonal variation in suitable habitats and developing predictive models of local malaria and arbovirus risk. The seasonal predictions of local malaria and arbovirus risk will be integrated into a smartphone application that will be used to diagnose patients with a fever.
Evaluation of a Red Cross maternal and child health (MCH) intervention in Honduras
The Canadian Red Cross (CRC) and the Honduran Red Cross (HRC) ran a five year CIDA-funded community health project, called “REDES” (“Networks”). The objective was to improve the health of vulnerable populations in rural communities of the departments of Copán and Santa Bárbara, Honduras. The organizations worked to strengthen maternal and child health services, specifically to reduce maternal, newborn and child mortality and morbidity.
The HRC carried out extensive monitoring throughout the project, including baseline and end line surveys. In order to determine the impact of the REDES project,…
Increasing capacity in disease vector modelling to improve malaria and arbovirus mitigation strategies
Managing malaria is difficult, especially in areas where other illnesses, such as arboviruses (like Dengue Fever and Rift Valley Fever), cause fevers that are often misdiagnosed and treated as malaria. Knowing how much habitat is available for mosquitoes that transmit malaria (Anopheles mosquitoes) compared to habitat for mosquitoes that transmit arboviruses (Aedes mosquitoes) can help distinguish the likelihood of malaria infections relative to arbovirus infections.
Assessing the dietary intake of women and children in Kenya
Kenya conducted a national survey of the nutritional status of its population in 2011. In collaboration with the Micronutrient Initiative, HealthBridge analyzed the data on the foods eaten daily by women and young children. This work helped to describe the average amount and types of foods eaten each day, including specific vitamins and minerals that are important for health. We estimated the proportion of women and children who don’t get enough vitamins and minerals in their diet, including iron, vitamin A, zinc and vitamin B-12. We also looked at the most common types of foods eaten by families…
Compiling global lessons from multi-country research in zinc and iron/folate supplementation
Providing zinc supplements along with oral rehydration to young children for the treatment of diarrhea is a life-saving intervention. Iron/folate supplements help address the common problem of iron deficiency anemia in pregnant women. Global efforts to ensure all children and women in developing countries have access to these programs had made little progress. The Micronutrient Initiative commissioned intensive research studies in nine countries in order to identify the barriers and potential enabling factors to improve the coverage of these programs. HealthBridge’s role in this project was to compile the country reports, synthesize their findings, and disseminate…
Background study on nutrition in Rwanda
Information: pberti@healthbridge.ca
Improved health through agriculture Interventions
Lupinus mutabilis Sweet, a traditional Ecuadorian grain: Fatty acid composition, use in the Ecuadorian Food system, and potential for reducing malnutrition. [link]
Linking Agriculture and Nutrition Interventions: Within and Without an Ecohealth Approach.
Malaria transmission and land use management in the Ecuadorian Amazon
Information – rdesrochers@healthbridge.ca
Monitoring & Evaluation of Canadian Red Cross ITN Campaign in Madagascar
Information: rdesrochers@healthbridge.ca
Soils, food & healthy communities project
Breastfeeding and mixed feeding practices in Malawi: Timing, reasons, decision makers, and child health consequences.
Effects of participatory agriculture and nutrition project on child growth in northern Malawi.
Appropriate solutions for anaemia control, 2003-2005
Reports and Publications
VitANet: Integration of vitamin A and malaria programs
Report – Insecticide Treated Nets and Vitamin A Supplementation: An integrated approach to control malaria and micronutrient deficiency Literature Review Paper and Malawi Case Study
Net Gain for Africa Task Force
Information: pberti@healthbridge.ca
Market Assessment Insecticide Treated Nets in sub-Saharan Africa: 4-country study
Information: pberti@healthbridge.ca