Adolescent nutrition: policy and programming in SUN+ countries

Summary of report: Save the Children, March 2015

Given the high numbers of adolescent girls who give birth and get married, in order to break the intergenerational cycle of malnutrition it is imperative that the nutritional needs of adolescent girls are adequately assessed and targeted, across multiple sectors.

Adolescent Nutrition is a report by Save the Children that presents what is being done in Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) countries and in India to address adolescent nutrition through policy and practice. It sets out roles and responsibilities for adolescent nutrition at the ministerial and agency levels. The report describes current policies and programmes aimed directly at addressing adolescent nutrition (e.g. multiple micronutrient supplementation and nutrition education in schools) as well as those designed to improve it indirectly (e.g. increase access to water and sanitation facilities at schools to improve menstrual hygiene management). The report highlights the urgency of addressing adolescent nutritional needs, both to maximise their own growth potential, as well as to improve birth outcomes and nutritional status of their infants and children. The SUN movement represents an important opportunity to bring attention to adolescent nutrition issues and promote the inter-sectoral collaboration required to address them holistically.

Adolescent Nutrition is targeted at ministers in SUN countries who are responsible for the welfare of adolescent girls, senior officials in the United Nations and international agencies, programme implementers and policy-makers in SUN countries, and officials in donor governments and agencies. It presents a series of recommendations to bring about urgent and much needed improvements in adolescent nutrition.

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