Together with Susan Shulmann (independent consultant based in USA), Savica’s principal consultant Dama Soekarjo prepared a report for the Innovation Working Group Asia (aIWG) on adolescent nutrition in Asia and interventions to address existing problems, under supervision of the Editorial Board, which consisted of Regina Pfanner, Stefan Germann, Grenville Hopkinson, Federico Graciano and others.
Extensive evidence exists that nutrition interventions are necessary during the first 1,000 days of life of a child, from conception to the child’s second birthday, to provide the best start to life. However, it is also becoming increasingly clear that it is important to focus nutrition interventions on adolescent girls in order to prepare them optimally for their future role as mothers. The recent Lancet nutrition series (2013) has underlined the need to focus in particular on adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating mothers to achieve effective reduction in malnutrition.
The Innovation Working Group (IWG) was created in 2010 by UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon to tap into the potential of innovations that can accelerate progress towards the health MDGs, in support of the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health. In 2013, the Innovation Working Group Asia (aIWG) was set up and World Vision volunteered to be its start up co-chair.
Extensive desk research formed the basis of a report to build a case for increasing support for adolescent nutrition, especially targeting adolescent girls by researching the scope and nature of malnutrition among these groups and to assess the different interventions currently available to reach these groups and those that are being investigated by researchers and private or public sector entities.
This report was published under the aIWG and One Goal Campaign logo and publicly launched in May 2014 as part of the first major football and nutrition engagement event of the One Goal Campaign during the Asian Women’s Cup in Vietnam.
