Maternal Nutrition Interventions in Uttar Pradesh, India

Maternal nutrition has been a long-standing concern of health authorities globally and in India. Despite the availability of proven, affordable interventions, and progressive policies and program platforms such as Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) services, a streamlined package of proven maternal nutrition services is not reaching the majority of women during pregnancy. Alive & Thrive India aims to test the feasibility of integrating a package of maternal nutrition interventions in routine Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (RMNCH) services.These include provision of IFA and calcium supplements, interpersonal counseling on diet during pregnancy and consumption of IFA and calcium, community mobilization, and adequate weight-gain monitoring during pregnancy. This proposed evaluation aims to assess the feasibility of integrating maternal nutrition interventions into an existing RMNCH services in India, using a cluster-randomized evaluation design, complemented with a nested cohort study.