This interview was taken at the Second Africa Maternal Nutrition and Multiple Micronutrient Supplementation (MMS) Meeting in Nairobi, Kenya in October 2024. Julia Rotich, from the Micronutrient Deficiency Prevention and Control Program – Division of Nutrition and Dietetics at the Ministry of Health shares insights to the state of maternal nutrition and introduction of MMS in Kenya.

This interview was taken at the Second Africa Maternal Nutrition and Multiple Micronutrient Supplementation (MMS) Meeting in Nairobi, Kenya in October 2024. Veronica Quartey, the Micronutrient Deficiency Prevention and Control Program Lead at the Ghana Health Services, Ministry of Health shares insights to the state of maternal nutrition and introduction of MMS in Ghana.

This interview was taken at the Second Africa Maternal Nutrition and Multiple Micronutrient Supplementation (MMS) Meeting in Nairobi, Kenya in October 2024. Kidist Woldesenbet, the Lead Developmental Nutrition in charge of MMS at the Federal Ministry of Health shares insights into the state of maternal nutrition and the introduction and scale-up of MMS in Ethiopia.

This fact sheet, translated in Portuguese summarizes what Balanced energy and protein (BEP) dietary supplementation is and the evidence on its benefits. Providing BEP dietary supplementation to pregnant women offers a safe and effective way to provide additional energy and nutrients to meet the increased demands of pregnancy, particularly in food-insecure settings where access to healthy diets and antenatal care services is limited.

This fact sheet, translated in French summarizes what Balanced energy and protein (BEP) dietary supplementation is and the evidence on the benefits of BEP dietary supplementation. Providing BEP dietary supplementation to pregnant women offers a safe and effective way to provide additional energy and nutrients to meet the increased demands of pregnancy, particularly in food-insecure settings where access to healthy diets and antenatal care services is limited.

This document translated in Portuguese, provides decision-makers with expert guidance from the global MMS Technical Advisory Group (MMS TAG) on interpreting the inclusion of breastfeeding women in the UNIMMAP MMS product label, ensuring informed decisions on the postpartum use of antenatal multiple micronutrient supplements (MMS).

This document written in French, provides decision-makers with expert guidance from the global MMS Technical Advisory Group (MMS TAG) on interpreting the inclusion of breastfeeding women in the UNIMMAP MMS product label, ensuring informed decisions on the postpartum use of antenatal multiple micronutrient supplements (MMS).

This film was taken in the context of the ‘Second Africa Maternal Nutrition and Multiple Micronutrient Supplementation (MMS)’ Meeting in Nairobi, Kenya from 16 – 18 October 2024. 18 African countries: Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia participated in this meeting.

Traditionally, nutrition interventions during pregnancy in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs) have received less attention than interventions focused on child nutrition. However, a solid body of evidence suggests that interventions to address micronutrient and macronutrient deficiencies during pregnancy could significantly improve both maternal and neonatal health along with foetal and child growth and need to be delivered at scale. This collection of papers uses an implementation research lens to better understand the issues that could affect the implementation of a BEP intervention in the context of an effectiveness trial testing different targeting strategies for the delivery of BEP to pregnant women in a setting in Northwest Bangladesh.

Vitamin D deficiency has been linked with several adverse maternal and fetal outcomes. The objective of this study was to summarize systematic reviews and meta-analyses evaluating the effects of vitamin D deficiency and of vitamin D supplementation in pregnancy on maternal and offspring health-related outcomes. We identified 16 eligible systematic reviews and meta-analyses, which included 250,569 women. Our results demonstrated that vitamin D deficiency in pregnancy is associated with increased risk of preterm birth, small-for gestational age/ low birth weight infants, recurrent miscarriage, bacterial vaginosis and gestational diabetes mellitus. Vitamin D supplementation in pregnancy increases birth weight, and reduces the risk of maternal pre-eclampsia, miscarriage, and vitamin D deficiency, fetal or neonatal mortality, as well as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and autism spectrum disorder in childhood. In women with gestational diabetes mellitus, vitamin D supplementation in pregnancy can reduce the risk of maternal hyperbilirubinemia, polyhydramnios, macrosomia, fetal distress, and neonatal hospitalization. Due to the association with adverse maternal and offspring health outcomes, we recommend the vitamin D status in pregnancy should be monitored, particularly in women at high risk of vitamin D deficiency. It is suggested that pregnant women take a dose of >400 IU/day of vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy to prevent certain adverse outcomes.