What works? Interventions for maternal and child undernutrition and survival

The authors of this article reviewed interventions that affect maternal and child undernutrition and nutrition-related outcomes, including: promotion of breastfeeding; strategies to promote complementary feeding, with or without provision of food supplements; micronutrient interventions; general supportive strategies to improve family and community nutrition; and reduction of disease burden (promotion of handwashing and strategies to reduce the burden of malaria in pregnancy). They found that although strategies for breastfeeding promotion have a large effect on survival, their effect on stunting is small. To eliminate stunting in the longer term, these interventions should be supplemented by improvements in the underlying determinants of undernutrition, such as poverty, poor education, disease burden, and lack of women's empowerment.