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Issue 4 July 2019
In this fourth issue of our regular update, we bring you a roundup of relevant news, upcoming events, and the most up-to-date nutrition evidence relevant to the West Africa region. Please feel free to share any feedback, news, or events with S.Reddin@ids.ac.uk 
 
NEWS from Transform Nutrition West Africa

Assessment of nutrition data in West Africa
To facilitate better use of nutrition data in West Africa, we have brought together all of our outputs on this research in a useful landing page. This includes links to a data visualisation, full database of primary sources and data profiles for 16 West African countries.

Final call for ‘Leading Change in Nutrition’ short course registrations

The African Nutrition Leadership Programme, the International Food Policy Research Institute and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are offering a leadership development course ‘Leading Change in nutrition’, which will be offered in French in Dakar, Senegal 21-25 October 2019. Deadline for applications is 12h00 CAT on 24 July 2019.

Countdown to 2030 regional workshop
Transform Nutrition West Africa collaborated with Countdown to 2030 in June on a Regional Nutrition Workshop in Senegal. The workshop (see report from WAHO) aimed to enhance the evidence for nutrition-related issues for women, children and adolescents in West Africa, and strengthen the capacity for analysis of nutrition data from household surveys and other sources.

Nutrition Policy in Nigeria 
This new Evidence Brief summarizes nutrition-relevant policies in Nigeria, examining nutrition context, key beneficiaries, monitoring, and whether current policies are aligned with the World Health Assembly global targets.
Better data for use, and better use of data 
To turn a commitment to scale up nutrition into reality, we need high-quality actionable data – in the right places at the right times. This blog from Stuart Gillespie argues that a value chain approach is key for progress, highlighting findings from a recent BMJ Global Health paper.

Nutrition Policy in Burkina Faso
To strengthen and widen understanding of the current direction of nutrition-relevant policy in Burkina Faso and its implications a new Evidence Brief has been developed in response to a request from partners.

Nigeria Stories of Change in Nutrition 
Stakeholder consultation and stakeholder network mapping events for the Nigeria Stories of Change in Nutrition study were held in Abuja on 14-15 May. The study aims to understand nutrition changes in Nigeria since 2008, as well as anticipated future changes and challenges.

ECOWAS Nutrition Forum 
Transform Nutrition West Africa and the Regional Nutrition Working Group took part in a preparatory meeting to plan the 16th ECOWAS Nutrition Forum which will be held in Liberia on 18-22 November 2019.
NEWS from partners and the region
A WHO Level 1 certificate course in developing a Data Improvement Plan (DIP) will be starting 16 September 2019 and a course information briefing for all potential applicants was held on 12 July. You can listen to a recorded version through this link.

A UNICEF article highlights the fact that children in Mali bear the heaviest brunt of conflict as the security situation worsens there.

WHO and UNICEF have jointly released their “Recommendations for data collection, analysis and reporting on anthropometric indicators in children under 5 years old”

Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) report that national food and nutrition investment in Mali is to get a boost with a commitment to ensure the next food security investment plan is more sensitive to agriculture and nutrition.

A partnership between the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Government of Côte d’Ivoire has led to the opening of a Regional Centre of Excellence against Hunger and Malnutrition (CERFAM) in Abidjan.

An International research hub led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and the London International Development Centre has been launched to tackle stunting in children. Senegal will be a country of focus.

The World Bank has approved an International Development Association (IDA) grant of USD 50 million to support the government of Benin’s efforts to reduce stunting and improve early childhood development outcomes in children under five years of age.

Nine new SUN Movement countries (Chad, Ghana, Mauritania, Niger, Pakistan, Somalia, Tajikistan, Zambia and Zimbabwe) will now join the Global Financing Facility.

An Action Against Hunger initiative aims to break the cultural barriers that stand in the way of the fight against malnutrition in Nigeria’s Yobe State with fathers making a pledge to improve nutrition and sanitation in their households.

Obesity is on the rise in West Africa says a report by the FAO following an ECOWAS meeting in Accra.

A UN briefing is now available on Simplified approaches for the treatment of child wasting.
EVIDENCE

The following six peer-reviewed studies have been selected, as they demonstrate rigor in their methods, highlight areas of concern, and identify new knowledge for future action in the West Africa region:
We have also highlighted a number of insightful recent reports and web articles, including:

A number of reports by The Emergency Nutrition Network:
About Transform Nutrition West Africa
Transform Nutrition West Africa is a regional platform to enable effective policy and programmatic action on nutrition, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation from 2017–2021 and led by the International Food Policy Research Institute. We want you to join us and be part of a network of people and organisations in West Africa using evidence to generate change.
About this update
This Transform Nutrition West Africa Update features news and summaries of articles published in peer-reviewed journals as well as grey literature, including reports, briefs, or other forms of evidence from researchers, NGOs, or other organizations/institutions. The presented studies were selected as they demonstrated rigor in their methods and analysis, and relevance to the region and target audience of Transform Nutrition West Africa. There are two main sections: peer-reviewed article summaries and grey literature summaries (from websites and google scholar).This publication has been prepared by Transform Nutrition West Africa and has not been peer-reviewed. Any opinions stated herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the policies of the International Food Policy Research Institute.
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