The Home Fortification Community of Practice: An Approach to Improve Inter-country Communication and Collaboration to Support the Implementation and Scaling-up of Home Fortification Programs.

Objectives: Home fortification is an innovative way to improve the diet with essential nutrients for targeted vulnerable groups who have higher requirements or do not benefit from other micronutrient interventions. As a relatively new program, there is a tremendous need for technical support. The idea of a community of practice was developed to facilitate inter-country and inter-agency dialogue and learning, with the following objectives: 1. To provide an opportunity and space to exchange information and experiences between program. Implementers. 2. To enhance learning, generate new knowledge and document lessons learned and best practices; and 3. To facilitate coordination, harmonization and support for the scale up of home fortification. Methods: Online survey and informal interviews were conducted to incorporate target users’ opinions on the online community’s organizational, technical and operational features, and the desired benefits and potential barriers to participation. Lessons from existing successful online communities were used to inform stakeholders’ engagement and increase their awareness and involvement. Results: The Home Fortification Network (network.hftag.org) was branded and created as an online discussion forum with organized topics and with document-sharing capabilities. A moderator helps to connect users and facilitate discussion. Different stakeholders around the world are engaged and promote its global awareness and participation. Conclusions: The Home Fortification Network at network.hftag.org is an online community of practice created to facilitate and improve inter-country and inter-agency communication and collaboration to support the implementation and scaling-up of home fortification programs around the world.

Qualitative Research to Inform the Implementation of Home Fortification with Nutrition Education with Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention through Early Childhood Development Centres for Children Aged 6-59 Months in Sikasso, Mali.

Objectives: 93.4% of children aged 6-59 months old have malaria in Sikasso, Mali, and 83.5% have anemia. Our qualitative research sought to inform the home fortification with micronutrient powders (MNP) component of a malaria and anemia prevention project with seasonal malaria chemoprevention, delivered through early childhood development centers in 90 villages in Sikasso, Mali. We sought to understand the knowledge, attitudes and practices on infant and young child feeding, anemia prevention, and any opportunities and barriers for proper MNP use at the household level. Methods: 8 focus groups, and 46 in-depth interviews with stakeholders, beneficiaries and providers of the service, and 3 cooking and feeding observations were conducted in 4 villages, purposively selected to represent similar socio-economic status, accessibility to health centers and markets, agricultural and environmental climate as the remaining intervention villages. Results: Age-inappropriate feeding practices, and poor quality and quantity of complementary foods were identified. There is great awareness on the occurrence of anemia but knowledge on causes and preventive measures was lacking. All respondents showed positive interest in MNPs and additional stakeholders and potential barriers were identified, such as multiple family households and the intra-household sharing of meals. Conclusions: These results informed the creation of training materials and cooking demonstrations with MNPs as well as additional people to engage with to create a supportive and enabling environment. This helped guide the implementation of a malaria and anemia prevention project with seasonal malaria chemoprevention and MNP with nutrition education delivered through early childhood development centers in 90 villages in Sikasso, Mali.