NEW Updates on Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies (IYCF-E) July 2023 

Dear Colleagues,

Since our last update in April 2023, we have added 40 NEW publications to our scientific repository related to IYCF in emergency settings. In addition to several international reviews, this update provides emerging evidence from Albania, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Cyprus, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Greece, Kenya, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Malta, Nigeria, Pakistan, Portugal, Spain, Somalia, South Korea, Syria, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Venezuela.

Click here to view the updated repository

Many new publications focused on implementation challenges in crisis and post-crisis settings.  One study detailed challenges to implementing relactation interventions in humanitarian settings. Others evaluated complementary feeding interventions, including randomized trials of conditional cash transfers and mHealth messaging for internally displaced families in Somalia, and a peer-led complementary feeding intervention in Uganda. Focus groups with asylum-seekers and refugees in Italy highlighted the importance of adapting complementary feeding recommendations to incorporate “family foods,” or staple foods from the family’s culture of origin. One international review examined the implementation of essential newborn care - including breastfeeding and skin-to-skin contact - in armed-conflict settings. Another study found local conflict to be a poor predictor of IYCF practices or child mortality across the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in part because of the unequal access to humanitarian resources across provinces.

Other studies focused on the protective effects of breastfeeding on infant and child health. Two studies examine how inadequate breastfeeding practices contribute to the burden of child pneumonia and anemia in Ethiopia. Another study examined the relationship between inadequate breastfeeding and child stunting in Indonesia, which is put into further context by a review of Code violations across the country. Other topics include the impact of public health emergencies on food security and nutrition, including disruptions to food systems, health systems, social protections, and worsened racial disparities in exclusive breastfeeding rates.

New publications continue to discuss the impact of climate change and natural disasters on IYCF practices. Research examining disaster settings in Australia, Indonesia, Pakistan, and the Gulf coast of the United States emphasizes the importance of incorporating the needs of breastfeeding mothers into disaster management and planning. A recent perspective article urges policymakers to incorporate measures to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding in emergency preparedness and climate mitigation policies.

Some publications focused on IYCF in the context of infectious disease providing up-to-date recommendations for preventing mother-to-child transmission of monkeypox, hepatitis B, HIV, and syphilis. Among these are a systematic review examining the impact of Option B+ on HIV transmission in Africa and an editorial outlining barriers and facilitators to meeting WHO targets worldwide.

If you know anyone who would benefit from these updates, please direct them to this link to sign up for our email listserv. We aim to publish updates every 3 months – look out for out next update in October 2023.

Happy reading!

The IYCF-E Repository Team