integrating psychosocial support into nutrition programmes in west
TRANSCRIPT
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McGrath& Schafer
Integrating psychosocial support intonutrition programmes in West Africaduring the Sahel food crisis
MeganMcGrath & Alison Schafer
For optimal physical and cognitive development to
occur, a child requires adequate nutrition, but this
should occur in addition to physical and emotional
stimulation from a caregiver. Programmes, in which
interventions for nutrition, maternal mental health
and psychosocial stimulation are integrated, provide
much wider bene¢ts to a child’s psychical and cogni-
tive development than stand alone nutritional
responses. With this in mind, United Nations
Children’s Fund (UNICEF) prioritised the integ-
ration of psychosocial stimulation, within their
nutrition response, during theWestAfrica Sahelfood
crisis. Brief trainings were organised within ¢ve
West African countries in order to strengthen the
capacity of UNICEF and partner organisations to
initiate psychosocial activities within their nutri-
tional programmes.
Keywords: child protection, nutrition,psychosocial stimulation, Sahel, training,West Africa
Introduction: Sahel food crisisIn early to mid 2012, a serious food andnutrition crisis was threatening the Sahelregion of West Africa, with over 10 millionpeople experiencing food insecurity andover one million children su¡ering fromsevere and acute malnutrition, exacer-bating existing needs in already vulnerablepopulations. Unfortunately, as this articleis being written, the food crisis continues.Given the importance of adequate nutritionand stimulation on a child’s development,this crisis poses a signi¢cant risk to thephysical and cognitive growth of childrenin the region.
ht © War Trauma Foundation. Unautho
The impact of malnutrition,under-stimulation andmaternal mental health onchildren’s cognitivedevelopmentMalnourishment contributes to the deathsof ¢vemillionchildrenunder ¢ve, eachyear,in developing countries [United NationsChildren’s Fund (UNICEF, 2006)]. More-over, malnutrition is a major cause of poorbrain growth: children who have beenseverely malnourished as infants underperform at school, have less chance of doingproductive work later in life or forminghealthy relationships, and are more vul-nerable to physical and mental illness(UNICEF, 2012).The brain grows most rapidly in the ¢rstthree years of life and is also at its mostresponsive to stimuli presented (UNICEF,2012). A child is born with the basics of thebrain’s architecture already formed, how-ever, for the brain to develop to its fullpotential, connections must be ¢ne tunedand neural pathways strengthened to allowthe brain to process information e¡ectively.In order for this to happen, an infant mustbe exposed to positive stimulating experi-ences, ideally within the brains’ mostsensitive and responsive period of zero tothree years (The Center on the Develop-ing Child at Harvard University, 2009).However, according to WHO (2007) andUNICEF (2012), malnourished children,who commonly present with listlessness,apathy and unresponsiveness, often donot receive the stimulation and parental
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Integrating psychosocial support into nutrition programmes in West Africa during the Sahel food crisis
Intervention 2014, Volume 12, Number 1, Page 115 - 126
responsiveness they require for the brain todevelop to its full capacity. Further, thecaregiver may consequently reduce theamount of stimulation they o¡er to thechild who is listless or unresponsive, andin a cyclic way, the child stops respondingto their caregiver (WHO, 2007). A similarcycle has been identi¢ed for motherswho experience symptoms of depression(UNICEF, 2012). Ultimately, the child-ren lacking psychosocial stimulation andparental responsiveness are at risk ofdelayed or stunted emotional, social,physical and cognitive development. Child-ren are, therefore, seriously impacted bythe combined crisis of malnutrition andunder-stimulation (Figure 1, WHO, 2007).This can also be the case for children withcaregivers who are experiencing mental
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Figure 1: Malnutrition and reduced stimulation: implicatio
116
illness, including depression (UNICEF,2012).Given the known links between childnutrition, parent/child interaction and biopsychosocial child development, human-itarian organisations responding to foodcrises can no longer rely solely on physicalremedies to address the needs of malnu-trition. Psychosocial support initiatives, aspart of a child malnutrition emergencyresponse, must be incorporated to ensurethe quality and long-term bene¢ts ofinterventions for children. This was akey driving force in UNICEF’s responseto the Sahel food crisis. Some of theoperational activities are detailed below,following a brief review of some of theevidence on psychosocial stimulation inmalnourished children.
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ns for children’s development. Source:WHO, 2007.
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Box 1: Psychosocial stimulation
‘Psychosocial stimulation refers to the
extent that the environment provides
physical stimulation through sensory
input (e.g. visual, auditory, tactile), as
well as emotional stimulation provided
through an affectionate caregiver-child
bond’ (WHO, 2007 pg. 3)
McGrath& Schafer
Evidence based programmingaddressing under-stimulationin malnourished childrenResearch into under-stimulation in mal-nourished children suggests that combiningnutritional programmes with support forpositive parenting and psychosocial stimu-lation are likely to have long-term bene¢tsfor children’s development and health. Ina rigorous study in Jamaica, Grantham-McGregor et al. (1991) demonstrated posi-tive and additive e¡ects on physical andpsychological development of children, agedup to seven years. This three-group com-parison study demonstrated that thecombination of nutritional feeding, plus psy-chosocial support, had the greatest impactonboththephysical andpsychological devel-opment of children. Taking a slightly di¡er-ent perspective, Morris et al. (2012) foundsigni¢cant links between infant psychosocialstimulation and positive maternal mood inUganda. Mothers involved in a playgroup,organised within a supplementary feedingcentre for severely malnourished children,showed signi¢cant increases in positivemood, and subsequently, increases inmaternal responsiveness and interactionwith their children.This was compared to acontrol group, where children received onlynutritional intervention, and the sameincreases in mothers’ moods or mother^child interactions were not recorded.These studies in Jamaica and Ugandademonstrate that the additive e¡ect of nutri-tion and psychosocial support interventionsare inseparable. Nutritional programmes
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that contain both positive stimulation andsupport for caregivers are more e¡ective inpromoting growth and optimal child devel-opment than stand-alone nutrition pro-grammes (UNICEF, 2012). Undoubtedly,this is also why the inclusion of psychosocialsupport and stimulation, as part of foodand nutrition programmes, has beenincluded as a key action in the Inter-Agency
Standing Committee (IASC) Guidelines on Men-
tal Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency
Settings (IASC, 2007; Action Sheet 9.1).
A training programmeAs part of their response plan to the Sahelfood and nutrition crisis, UNICEF West &Central Africa Regional O⁄ce (WCARO)wished to strengthen the capacity of partnerorganisations to initiate psychosocial acti-vities within their nutritional and con£ictresponses in ¢ve countries across the region:Burkina Faso, Niger, Mauritania, Chadand Senegal.The ¢rst author was seconded to UNICEF,fromWorldVision Australia’s HumanitarianEmergency A¡airs team, for a period ofsix weeks in order to visit the ¢ve countriesin the region. She spent six weeks provid-ing capacity building and programmedesign support to UNICEF sta¡ andpartner organisations, including communitybased organisations (CBOs), nongovern-ment organisations (NGOs), government,local psychologists and health care pro-fessionals. The majority of participantsinvolved in the training had in£uence overthe design of nutrition programmes, andsome worked within nutrition programmesdirectly. Many participants also worked inareas receiving refugees from Mali, inaddition to being responsible for local emer-gency response initiatives.Four training modules were developed andcontextualised for this consultancy period.The purpose of these modules was to builda solid knowledge base of infant mentalhealth and cognitive development, maternal
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Box 2: Quotes from participants
‘I feel regret that I did not use such tech-
niques on my own child, however, I pray
that I will be given a second chance if my
children bless me with grandchildren...’
(Participant, Burkina Faso)
‘After yesterday’s training, I went home
and looked into the eyes of my 3 week old
daughter. I then smiled at her and I could
see her respond. I am very grateful that
this training will allow me to be a better
parent, and encourage other parents in
Burkina Faso to show love and affection
to their children.’ (Doctor, Burkina
Faso)
Integrating psychosocial support into nutrition programmes in West Africa during the Sahel food crisis
Intervention 2014, Volume 12, Number 1, Page 115 - 126
mental health, and designing an integratedpsychosocial support and nutrition pro-gramme, in addition to mental health andpsychosocial support (MHPSS) program-ming, more generally. The four trainingmodules covered the following topics:Demystifying mental health and psychosocial sup-
port This session provided an introductionto the concept of MHPSS and explored thequestionof ‘what isMHPSS?’It covered topicssuch as the impact of emergencies on themental health of populations and an intro-duction to the IASC Guidelines on Mental
Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency
Settings (IASC, 2007). Participants weretaskedwith designingan integratedMHPSSproject within a sector of their choice, basingtheir programmedesignonthe IASCMHPSS
Guidelines.Infant and child mental health and psychosocial
support in nutrition programmesThis central ses-sion explored the importance of nutrition,and emotional and physical stimulation ona child’s cognitive development. It focusedon the links between food shortage, malnu-trition and a lack of psychosocial stimu-lation. Various emotional and physicalstimulation techniques, relevant to a child’sstage of development, were also introduced.These were practised using the WHOMental Health in Food Shortages interven-tion table (Table 1, WHO, 2007), and theUNICEF & WHO Care for DevelopmentCounselling Cards (UNICEF & WHO,2012). Participants made dolls from localmaterials, whichwere then used in the train-ing to represent a malnourished infant.Using these dolls, participants practised psy-chosocial stimulation techniques, such asresponding to infant’s communication cues,looking into their infant’s eyes and smiling,talking or singing to the infant.Training alsoincluded sessions on how to make toys fromlocal materials, such as rattles, mobiles andpuzzles. Furthermore, the importance ofconsidering harmful traditional practiseswas explored through drama presentations.Examples included the father’s role in
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childcare, discipline within the family orattitudes towards playing with children.The dramatisations were then discussedas to whether such behaviours should beencouraged and built upon, or addressedwithin programmes to encourage change.Lastly, options for integrating psychosocialstimulation into the various nutrition pro-grammes were explored with participantstasked with designing their own integratednutrition and psychosocial stimulation pro-jects.
Maternal mental healthThis session providedan introduction to maternal mental health;exploring the risk factors for maternal men-tal illness and the impacts of maternaldepressionona child’s physical andcognitivedevelopment. Participants were introducedto various intervention ideas to prevent andsupport caregivers experiencing psycho-social concerns including; psychological ¢rstaid (PFA), woman and infant friendly spacesand stressmanagement techniques. Formoresevere cases, the need to refer to specialisedservices was emphasised, and participantsmapped referral pathways for mental healthconcerns that existed within their commu-nities.
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Table 1. Psychosocial stimulation: principles and examples
Type of stimulation What to do Examples
Emotional stimulation:Interventions to improvechild/caregiver interactionsare important in order tofacilitate children’semotional, social, andlanguage development.This canbe accomplishedthrough educatingcaregivers on theimportance of emotionalcommunication.
Express warmth anda¡ection to the childin a manner consistentwith cultural norms.
Encourage caregiversto look into the child’seyes, smile at him orher, especially duringbreastfeeding. Expressphysical a¡ection towardsthe child (e.g., holdand cuddle the child).
Encourage verbal andnonverbalcommunication betweenthe child and caregiver.
Communicate with thechild as much aspossible. Ask the childsimple questions andrespond to his or herattempts to talk.Tryto get a conversationgoing with sounds andgestures (smiles, glances).Get the child to laughand vocalise.Teach thechild ‘action words’withactivities. For example,say ‘bye’whenwavinggoodbye.
Respond to the needs ofthe child.
Respond to the child’ssounds and interests.Be attentive to his orher needs as indicatedby his or her verbalor nonverbal cues(e.g., crying or smiling).
Show appreciation forwhat the childmanages to do.
Provide verbal praisefor the child’saccomplishments.Also, show nonverbalsigns of appreciationand approval (e.g.,clapping and smiling).
(continued )
McGrath& Schafer
119
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Type of stimulation What to do Examples
Physical stimulation:Children need a physicallystimulating environmentin order to develop theirpsychomotor and languageskills and to enhancecognitive development.
Ensure that theenvironment providesadequate sensoryexperiences for thechild.
Provide ways for childrento see, hear, and move.For example, placecolourful objectsaround the child andencourage the childto reach or crawl tothem. Sing local songsand play games involving¢ngers and toes.
Provide play materials. Inexpensive and funtoys such as a puzzleand a rattle can bemade out ofcardboard boxes andplastic bottles. Seereference section forexamples.
Provide meaning tothe child’s physicalworld.
Help the child to name,count, and compareobjects. For example,give the child plasticbottle caps and teachthem to stack them.Older children cansort tops by colourand learn conceptssuch as ‘high’and ‘low’.Describe to the childwhat is happeningaround them.
Provide opportunitiesto practice skills.
It is important to playwith each childindividually, forat least 15^30 minutesper day, as well asto provideopportunities forplay with otherchildren.
Source:WHO, 2007.
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Box 3:Training observation
The ‘referral system’for those experien-
cing severe mental illness inWest Africa
generally begins within the family, then
moves to the religious leaderor traditional
healer. If cases cannot be adequately
treated by these traditional approaches,
individuals were generally referred
to other specialised services, such as the
hospital.
McGrath& Schafer
Psychological ¢rst aid (PFA) training followedon from the maternal mental health session.PFA was highlighted as a skill set to assistthose working with caregivers and childrenshowing signs of distress. PFA is a humane,supportive response to those who may besu¡ering and in need of support (WorldHealth Organisation,War Trauma Founda-tion & World Vision International, 2011).Participants were trained on the actionprinciples of PFA; Look, Listen & Link(Table 2) using a number of crisis simu-lations. It was highlighted that all sta¡ andvolunteers working directly with womenand children should be trained in PFAto equip them to deal appropriately withthose in distress, allowing them to feel sup-ported, and to prevent further harm frominappropriate responses to that distress.
Box 4: Response to PFA training
‘The ‘Good and Bad Listening Exercise’
[in the PFA training] helped me to
feel how disrespected and unsupported
someone can feel if we do not provide
them with our full attention as we listen
to their needs and concerns.’ (Nutrition
actor, Chad)
Training outcomesAt the end of the training, participantsspent time designing an integrated project,
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including psychosocial stimulation, mater-nal mental health considerations and PFA,within their existing or planned nutritionalactivities. Planned activities varied accord-ing to country and context, however, thevast majority of partner organisations inattendance indicated solid plans to integratethese approaches within their programmes.Planned activities included: undertaking atraining of PFA and psychosocial stimu-lation for all sta¡ working directly withcaregivers and children in nutritional pro-grammes (Chad); hiring local artists todesign posters and communicate messageson the importance of psychosocial inter-actions (Burkina Faso); establishing care-givers clubs within feeding centres topromote psychosocial stimulation (Niger,Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania); andensuring psychosocial stimulation is a corecomponent of all UNICEF funding agree-ments with nutrition partners going forward(Senegal) (Table 3). Initial project datacoming out of Senegal indicates substantial¢ndings in the average duration of treatmentof malnourished children, whichwas12 daysprior to the integration of psychosocial sup-port, with the average duration reduced to8 days after an integratedapproach hadbeenadopted (UNICEF, 2013).
Social norms and harmfultraditional practisesOne signi¢cant ¢nding during the train-ings was the vast child protection issuesdirectly impacting children’s nutritionalstatus and psychosocial wellbeing. Forexample in Niger, the ¢rstborn child istraditionally given to the grandmother atbirth and is commonly shownminimal a¡ec-tion or human interaction. Consequently,participants reported that ¢rstborn childrenare known to have behavioural problems.In another example, the Chief of UNICEFNutrition in Chad reported that childrenwho refused to eat due to illness and/ormalnutrition often have the uvula cut (the
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Table 2. Action principles of PFA: Look, Listen, Link
Principle Actions
LOOK -Check for safety.-Check for people with obvious urgent basic needs.-Check for people with serious distress reactions.
LISTEN -Approach people whomay need support.-Ask about people’s needs and concerns.-Listen to people, and help them to feel calm.
LINK -Help people address basic needs and access services.-Help people cope with problems.-Give information.-Connect people with loved ones and social support.
Source:World Health Organisation,WarTrauma Foundation &WorldVision International, 2011.
Integrating psychosocial support into nutrition programmes in West Africa during the Sahel food crisis
Intervention 2014, Volume 12, Number 1, Page 115 - 126
projection at the back of the throat), leadingto the child’s inability to swallow food, whichthen also contributes to severe malnutrition.Or, those with breathing di⁄culties havetheir chests cut deeply, as it is believed thiswill facilitate breathing. In another example,children with diarrhoea were reportedlytreated by having their anus burnt with hotirons in an e¡ort to stop the diarrhoea, lead-ing to infections that further impacted thechild’s health and nutritional status. Theseexamples show the importance of a holisticapproach in children’s health, protection,nutritional and psychosocial needs, whereeducation on the importance of combiningthese elements of child wellbeing is essential.
Challenges and opportunitiesOne of the greatest challenges of theMHPSSresponse in the Sahel food crisis was the lackof French speakers with combined expertisein psychosocial support and nutrition ^ notonly to facilitate the training, but to also sup-port the implementation of programmes.The consultant deployed for the trainingwas not a French speaker and thus requiredtranslation throughout the six-week period.While UNICEF advertised the positionwidely, there is a lackof expertise in this area
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globally, and most prominently in Franco-phone countries. This is an area that theMHPSS sector needs to rapidly buildcapacity, especially in light of the projectedincreases of food crises in coming years.Another challenge was a lack of ‘buy in’ fromkey stakeholders in many of the a¡ectedcountries. For those who had worked in the¢eld of nutrition for some time, it wasdi⁄cult for them to understand the holisticnature of the approach and to see thebene¢t of adding a ‘soft’ activity (such asstimulation) alongside ‘hard’ nutritionalinputs. This was especially challenging asmeasurement of the bene¢ts of the ‘soft’activities, such as psychosocial support formothers and parent/infant stimulation, areoften di⁄cult to quantify.Additionally, the question of who ‘owns’anddrives this approach, both within UNICEFand partner organisations, is a questionthat needs to be systemically addressed inhumanitarian coordination sectors. Thepromotion of psychosocial support andstimulation within nutritional programmeshas links with nutrition, early childhooddevelopment and child protection. Thishas blurred the lines designating whichsector had ultimate responsibility for ensur-ing these initiatives were prioritised, and
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Copyright © War Trauma Foundation. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited.
Table3.
Training
andplan
nedinterv
ention
overview
Cou
ntry
Training
schedu
leNum
berof
participan
tsSa
mpleofplan
nedintervention
s
Burkina
Faso
-5June:D
emystifyingMHPSS
30-Trainingof60
nursesworking
intherap
euticfeeding
centresinpsycho
socialsupp
ortinnu
trition&
Psycholog
icalFirstA
id-6June:M
HPSS
inNutrition
-Trainingforfeedingcentre
man
agersa
cross
15diocesesin
psycho
socialsupp
ortinnu
trition&
Psycholog
icalFirstA
id-7
June:M
aterna
lMentalH
ealth
-8June:P
FANiger
-12June:M
HPSS
inNutrition
30-E
stablishm
ento
fcaregiver
club
swithin50
feeding
centrestoallowinclusionofpsycho
social
stim
ulationactivities
-13June:M
aterna
lMentalH
ealth
-Trainingofhealth/nutrition
/socialw
orkersin
40centresinpsycho
socialsupp
ortinnu
trition&
Psycholog
icalFirstA
id-15June:P
FA-Awarenessraising
activitiesin100villa
ges
Mau
ritania
-22June:M
HPSS
inChild
Protection
30-T
rainingof95
health
workersacrosssixregion
sof
Mau
ritaniacentresinpsycho
socialsupp
ortin
nutrition
-23June:P
FA-T
rainingof28
commun
ityworkersworking
within
feedingcentresinMalianrefugeecamps
inpsycho
socialsupp
ortinnu
trition
(continued
)
McGrath& Schafer
123
Copyright © War Trauma Foundation. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited.
Cou
ntry
Training
schedu
leNum
berof
participan
tsSa
mpleofplan
nedintervention
s
Cha
d-2
July:M
HPSS
inNutrition
60-Socialservice,h
ealthan
dnu
tritionactorsop
erating
across10
region
sofC
hadtrainedin
psycho
social
supp
ortinnu
tritionan
dequipp
edto
trainother
actorsworking
with
malno
urishedchild
renan
dtheircaregivers
-3July:M
aterna
lMentalH
ealth
-UNIC
EFEarlyChildho
odDevelop
mentk
itsp
rovided
tonu
tritioncentresw
hosehealth/socialw
orkers
andvolunteersweretrainedin
psycho
social
supp
ortinnu
trition
-4July:P
FASenegal
-10July:M
HPSS
inNutrition
20-Form
aMHPSS
working
grou
pto
ensure
continuation
ofinterest,ensuretraining
rollou
tan
dto
sharelesson
slearntinad
dition
totoolsa
ndresources
-11July:M
aterna
lMentalH
ealthan
dPFA
-EnsureMHPSS
inclusions
arepa
rtofalln
utrition
fund
ingagreem
entsgoingforw
ard
-Provide
inpu
tintothedevelopm
ento
fMHPSS
commun
icationan
dtraining
materialtobe
develope
dattheregion
allevel
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McGrath& Schafer
implemented, in the overall Sahel response.Ideally, collaboration should exist betweenthe various departments to ensure pro-gramme quality and holistic integration.A further challenge encountered was thepro¢le of participants. While the trainingwas targeted at programme implementerlevel (i.e., feeding centre sta¡),many partici-pants were, in fact, government delegates,UN agency country headquarters sta¡ ando⁄ce based NGO sta¡. Therefore, it raisedconcerns as to whether these participantswould take the training and their learningtowards operational implementation. Also,there was no capacity for the mentoringof participants and the monitoring of thequality of programmes they implementedas a result of the trainings. Ideally after anytraining, mentoring and follow-up shouldbe provided to ensure quality and thatmomentum is maintained.Finally, the evidence base for combiningpsychosocial support and stimulation acti-vities into nutritional programmes needsto be strengthened. Currently, the majorityof recommendations are based on a smallevidence base, plus theories on infantneurological development and the biopsychosocial needs of malnourished child-ren. Nonetheless, this evidence base createsan opportunity for the nutrition andMHPSS sectors. In the meantime, thereremains a great need for more targetedand longitudinal research into maternalmental health and infant stimulation pro-grammes operating within health andnutrition programmes, including speci¢cresearch from theWest and Central Africaregions, where food crises and child mal-nutrition is bound to be an ongoing chal-lenge. Therefore, an investment of rigorousresearch, randomised control trials, andimproved standards for monitoring andevaluation of programmes should be under-taken to ensure evidence of impact isfurther established.This would also supportfurther opportunities for funding of suchprogrammes in the future.
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ConclusionWhile evidence is still lacking from lowerto middle income countries, the limitedevidence that does exist suggests thatan integrated nutrition, maternal mentalhealth and psychosocial stimulation pro-gramme provides much wider bene¢ts to achild’s psychic and cognitive developmentthan stand-alone nutrition responses. It isencouraging that UNICEF prioritised theestablishment of this approach withinthe Sahel food crisis response, and it ishoped that the capacity building conductedacross the region will feed into the existingevidence base and establish this approachas the ‘norm’ within nutritional program-ming. This will, therefore, enable the nextgeneration of children living in areasvulnerable to food crisis to reach their fullpotential.
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Integrating psychosocial support into nutrition programmes in West Africa during the Sahel food crisis
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Megan McGrath works for World Vision
Australia in the Humanitarian and Emergency
A¡airs department. She has post graduate
quali¢cations in both Psychology and Infant
Mental Health.
email: [email protected]
Alison Schafer is a clinical psychologist with
World Vision Australia’s Humanitarian and
Emergency A¡airsTeam. She is World Vision
International’s lead program advisor for mental
health and psychosocial support programmes.
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