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The project supports locally led monitoring, research, and learning to improve the implementation of evidence-based nutrition interventions in health services
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – RTI International, a nonprofit research institute and leading international development organization, has been selected by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to lead a new five-year project focused on Enhancing Nutrition Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning in the Health Sector (NuMERAL).
“Good nutrition is essential for the health and well-being of all people, especially for women, infants and children,” said Tania Brunn, senior director of food security and agriculture at RTI. “The NuMERAL project will support locally led research, monitoring, and learning activities to improve the implementation of evidence-based nutrition interventions in health services. It will also advance the integration of early childhood development approaches into nutrition and health systems."
This project will work at the global level with efforts directed primarily to USAID’s fourteen Nutrition Priority Countries and four Nutrition Strategic Support Countries. The RTI team along with our partners, University of California-Davis, based in the US, the African Population and Health Research Center, based in Kenya, and icddr,b, based in Bangladesh, will support and elevate local leaders and stakeholders to generate research and strengthen monitoring and evaluation intended to shift policies and practices within USAID nutrition priority countries and beyond.
Key NuMERAL focus areas:
- Mainstream nutrition in reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health policies and services
Link components of nurturing care with a focus on integrating responsive caregiving and opportunities for early learning into nutrition policies and programs - Improve assessment of micronutrient deficiencies and anemia to inform targeted interventions to prevent and overcome these conditions
- Efforts supported under NuMERAL will take into account existing evidence, fill in gaps, and coordinate learning efforts to improve nutrition and child development interventions within health systems.
“Nutrition needs to be viewed as an integral component of the health sector and as such, many nutrition interventions need to be mainstreamed and monitored within health systems,” added Brunn.
The project will work closely with local entities to ensure that research and learning are relevant to their local context and used to influence policies and programs to improve human nutrition and child development.
Read more about RTI’s work in global food security, agriculture and nutrition
Read more about RTI’s work in global health
Read more about RTI's Center for Thriving Children
