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Background: To address gaps in coverage and quality of nutrition services, Alive & Thrive (A&T) strengthened the delivery of maternal nutrition interventions through government antenatal care (ANC) services in Uttar Pradesh, India. The impact evaluation of the A&T interventions compared intensive ANC (I-ANC) with standard ANC (S-ANC) areas and found modest impacts on micronutrient supplementation, dietary diversity, and weight-gain monitoring.Objectives: This study examined intervention-specific program impact pathways (PIPs) and identified reasons for limited impacts of the A&T maternal nutrition intervention package.Methods: We used mixed methods: frontline worker (FLW) surveys (n = ∼500), counseling observations (n = 407), and qualitative in-depth interviews with FLWs, supervisors, and block-level staff (n = 59). We assessed 7 PIP domains: training and materials, knowledge, supportive supervision, supply chains, data use, service delivery, and counseling.Results: Exposure to training improved in both I-ANC and S-ANC areas with more job aids used in I-ANC compared with S-ANC (90% compared with 70%), but gaps remained for training content and refresher trainings. FLWs' knowledge improvement was higher in I-ANC than S-ANC (22-36 percentage points), but knowledge of micronutrient supplement benefits and recommended foods was insufficient (<50%). Most FLWs received supervision (>90%), but supportive supervision was limited by staff vacancies and competing work priorities. Supplies of iron-folic acid and calcium supplements were low in both areas (30-50% stock-outs). Use of monitoring data during review meetings was higher in I-ANC than S-ANC (52% compared with 36%) but was constrained by time, understanding, and data quality. Service provision improved in both I-ANC and S-ANC areas, but counseling on supplement benefits and weight-gain monitoring was low (30-40%).Conclusions: Systems-strengthening efforts improved maternal nutrition interventions in ANC, but gaps remained. Taking an intervention-specific perspective to the PIP analysis in this package of services was critical to understand how common and specific barriers influenced overall program impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic may substantially affect health systems, but little primary evidence is available on disruption of health and nutrition services.Objectives: This study aimed to 1) determine the extent of disruption in provision and utilization of health and nutrition services induced by the pandemic in Uttar Pradesh, India; and 2) identify how adaptations were made to restore service provision in response to the pandemic.Methods: We conducted longitudinal surveys with frontline workers (FLWs, n = 313) and mothers of children <2 y old (n = 659) in December 2019 (in-person) and July 2020 (by phone). We also interviewed block-level managers and obtained administrative data. We examined changes in service provision and utilization using Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank tests.Results: Compared with prepandemic, service provision reduced substantially during lockdown (83-98 percentage points, pp), except for home visits and take-home rations (∼30%). Most FLWs (68%-90%) restored service provision in July 2020, except for immunization and hot cooked meals (<10%). Administrative data showed similar patterns of disruption and restoration. FLW fears, increased workload, inadequate personal protective equipment (PPE), and manpower shortages challenged service provision. Key adaptations made to provide services were delivering services to beneficiary homes (∼40%-90%), social distancing (80%), and using PPE (40%-50%) and telephones for communication (∼20%). On the demand side, service utilization reduced substantially (40-80 pp) during the lockdown, but about half of mothers received home visits and food supplementation. Utilization for most services did not improve after the lockdown, bearing the challenges of limited travel (30%), nonavailability of services (26%), and fear of catching the virus when leaving the house (22%) or meeting service providers (14%).Conclusions: COVID-19 disrupted the provision and use of health and nutrition services in Uttar Pradesh, India, despite adaptations to restore services. Strengthening logistical support, capacity enhancement, performance management, and demand creation are needed to improve service provision and utilization during and post-COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Maternal nutrition interventions are inadequately integrated into antenatal care (ANC). Alive & Thrive aimed to strengthen delivery of micronutrient supplements and intensify interpersonal counseling and community mobilization through government ANC services.Objectives: We compared nutrition-intensified ANC (I-ANC) with standard ANC (S-ANC) on coverage of nutrition interventions and maternal nutrition practices.Methods: We used a cluster-randomized design with cross-sectional baseline (2017) and endline (2019) surveys (n ∼660 pregnant and 1800 recently delivered women per survey) and a repeated-measures longitudinal study in 2018-2019 (n = 400). We derived difference-in-difference effect estimates (DIDs) for diet diversity, consumption of micronutrient supplements, weight monitoring, and early breastfeeding practices.Results: Despite substantial secular improvements in service coverage from India's national nutrition program, women in the I-ANC arm received more home visits [DID: 7-14 percentage points (pp)] and counseling on core nutrition messages (DID: 10-23 pp) than in the S-ANC arm. One-third of women got ≥3 home visits and one-fourth received ≥4 ANC check-ups in the I-ANC arm. Improvements were greater in the I-ANC arm than in the S-ANC arm for any receipt and consumption of iron-folic acid (DID: 7.5 pp and 9.5 pp, respectively) and calcium supplements (DID: 14.1 pp and 11.5 pp, respectively). Exclusive breastfeeding improved (DID: 7.5 pp) but early initiation of breastfeeding did not. Maternal food group consumption (∼4 food groups) and probability of adequacy of micronutrients (∼20%) remained low in both arms. Repeated-measures longitudinal analyses showed similar results, with additional impact on consumption of vitamin A-rich foods (10 pp, 11 g/d), other vegetables and fruits (22-29 g/d), and gestational weight gain (0.4 kg).Conclusions: Intensifying nutrition in government ANC services improved maternal nutrition practices even with strong secular trends in service coverage. Dietary diversity, supplement consumption, and breastfeeding practices remained suboptimal. Achieving greater behavior changes will require strengthening the delivery and use of maternal nutrition services integrated into ANC services in the health system. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT03378141. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background In response to the high levels of maternal nutrition in Uttar Pradesh, Alive & Thrive (A&T) aimed to strengthen the delivery of nutrition interventions through the government antenatal care platform, including leveraging ongoing data collection to improve program delivery and reach (registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT03378141). However, we have a limited understanding of providers' experiences and challenges in collecting and using data for decision making. Objective The aim was to identify barriers and facilitators to the 1) collection of data and 2) use of data for decision making. Methods In-depth interviews (n  = 35) were conducted among block-level government staff, frontline worker (FLW) supervisors, and A&T staff in 2 districts in Uttar Pradesh. Systematic coding of verbatim transcripts and detailed summaries were undertaken to elucidate themes related to data collection and use. FLW supervisors (n  = 103) were surveyed to assess data use experiences. Results Data were used to understand the reach of maternal nutrition services, estimate the demand for supplements, and guide identification of areas of low FLW performance. About half of supervisors reported using data to identify areas of improvement; however, only 23% reported using data to inform decision making. Facilitators of data collection and use included collaboration between health department officials, perceived importance of block ranking, and monthly review meetings with staff and supervisors to review and discuss data. Barriers to data collection and use included human resource gaps, inadequate technology infrastructure, FLW educational level, political structure, and lack of cooperation between FLWs and supervisors. Conclusions The use of data for decision making is critical for supporting intervention planning and providing targeted supervision and support for FLWs. Despite intensive data-collection efforts, the use of data to inform decision making remains limited. Collaboration facilitated data collection and use, but structural barriers such as staff vacancies need to be addressed to improve the implementation of maternal nutrition interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Healthy diets can help reduce undernutrition, morbidity, and mortality. However, evidence on the accessibility and affordability of recommended diets is limited, particularly in poor-resource settings including India. Objectives This study examined: 1) the minimum cost of different types of household diets; 2) how economic constraints can prevent households from accessing a nutritious diet; and 3) how home production and social protection can improve access to nutritious diets. Methods We conducted 24 market and 125 household surveys in Uttar Pradesh, India, to obtain food prices and consumption patterns. Cost of Diet, a linear programming software, was used to assess the minimum cost of different diets, estimate affordability of nutritious diets, and model scenarios of home production and social protection interventions to improve affordability. Results The minimum-cost nutritious diet that met all recommended nutrient requirements [904 US dollars (US$)/y] was over twice as expensive as the diet that only met energy requirements (US$393/y). The nutritious diet was unaffordable for 75% of households given current income levels, consumption patterns, and food prices. Household income and dietary preferences, rather than food availability, were the key barriers to obtain nutritious diets. Home production had potential to reduce the cost of nutritious diets by 35%, subsidized grains by 19%, and supplementary food by 10%. The poorest households could only afford recommended nutritious diets with access to multiple interventions. Conclusions Practical, habitual, diet-related behavior change communication to middle- and high-income households and additional social protection for poorer households could enable individuals to achieve optimal nutrient intakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]