Inter-agency technical consultation on Infant and Young Child Feeding indicators
Meeting report, 11-13 July 2018
Overview
In 2008, an interagency group developed recommendations on “Indicators for Assessing Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) Practices.” The recommendations for 15 IYCF indicators have served as the standard for data collection and reporting on IYCF throughout the world.
The World Health Assembly (WHA) included the minimum acceptable diet (MAD) indicator in the Global Nutrition Monitoring Framework (GNMF) for monitoring of the Global Nutrition Targets. But the WHO Member States requested additional operational guidance on this indicator.
Based on an inter-agency technical consultation convened in 2017, WHO-UNICEF Technical Expert Advisory group on Nutrition Monitoring (TEAM) provisionally recommended “minimum dietary diversity” (MDD). They also recommended review of the guidance on IYCF indicators developed in 2008.
A technical consultation was convened by WHO and UNICEF on 11-13 July 2018, Geneva, Switzerland. The report summarizes the discussions and suggested modifications of IYCF indicators including breastfeeding and complementary feeding indicators.