Mother-and-Child Health and Nutrition


A pregnant woman’s health and nutrition have a direct impact on fetal development. When an expectant mother is well nourished, the risk of low birth weight and stunted growth is significantly reduced.

Equally important, newborns and infants are most vulnerable to undernutrition and increased risk of infection. Children between 6 and 24 months who are well fed experience healthy development and can catch up on their growth more quickly.

Friends of WFP helps WFP provide life-saving food and nutrition education at the most critical times in the lives of pregnant women and developing children.

With WFP assistance, mothers are able to have healthy deliveries, and babies and young children are growing and developing properly. In 2008, WFP provided supplemental nutritional support to more than 6 million undernourished children and nearly 3 million vulnerable women.

WFP Resources

Links
Focus on Women

Downloads 
Paying the price of hunger: the impact of malnutrition on women and children [PDF] 
WFP Annual Report, 2009 [PDF]
Meeting Children's Nutritional Needs: Fortified Blended Foods, 2004 [PDF]

Friends of WFP Fact Sheets

Mother-and-Child Health and Nutrition: Story From the Field [PDF]
Sidebar: A mother in Madagascar sees her son’s health improve.

Mother-and-Child Health and Nutrition: Vitacereal [PDF]
Sidebar: WFP’s Vitacereal™ helps a mother in Guatemala.

Catarina, Guatemala

Catarina, Guatemala

With a family income of less than $4 a day, Catarina Raxuleu and her husband struggle to feed their four children. But Catarina began eating Vitacereal™ from WFP when she was pregnant with Pasqual. Today, she serves it to him twice a day. "There's a big difference between my pregnancies," said Catarina. "Pasqual was a healthy weight when he was born." Thanks to WFP, Catarina can expect to see little Pasqual grow and develop into a healthier adult.

Fast Fact

Vitacereal™, a fortified blend of maize, soy and micronutrients, was designed in Guatemala by WFP specifically for local pregnant and nursing mothers, as well as children ages 6 months to 3 years.


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