Peer-reviewed article
COVID-19 pandemic and mitigation strategies: implications for maternal and child health and nutrition
Nadia Akseer, Goutham Kandru, Emily Catherine Keats, Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This review examines how the COVID-19 pandemic and associated mitigation strategies threaten maternal and child nutrition globally. The authors identify key sectors at risk, including food systems, health care services, and water and sanitation access. The document provides strategic recommendations to protect nutrition, including strengthening food supply chains, implementing social safety nets, deploying community health workers, and improving sanitation. The authors emphasize that reducing undernutrition during COVID-19 requires coordinated investment, data-driven decisions, and political commitment from governments and international partners.
Key points
- Childhood wasting rates are rising in the short term, with maternal and child undernutrition rates likely to increase due to COVID-19's impact on poverty and food access
- Key sectors at risk of collapse include food systems, health care services for women and children, and access to clean water and sanitation
- Recommended strategies include strengthening food-supply chains, targeted social safety nets, cash-support programs for vulnerable populations, and community-led sanitation programs
- Community health workers should be deployed to reach marginalized households in rural populations and urban slums
- COVID-19 response measures such as contact tracing and self-isolation could be repurposed to support nutrition protection
Limitations
This is a strategic review paper that synthesizes concerns and recommendations rather than presenting original empirical data or evaluation results. The document does not provide quantitative evidence on the effectiveness of specific interventions or detailed outcomes from countries implementing these strategies.
Abstract
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues to ravage health and economic metrics globally, including progress in maternal and child nutrition. Although there has been focus on rising rates of childhood wasting in the short term, maternal and child undernutrition rates are also likely to increase as a consequence of COVID-19 and its impacts on poverty, coverage of essential interventions, and access to appropriate nutritious foods. Key sectors at particular risk of collapse or reduced efficiency in the wake of COVID-19 include food systems, incomes, and social protection, health care services for women and children, and services and access to clean water and sanitation. This review highlights key areas of concern for maternal and child nutrition during and in the aftermath of COVID-19 while providing strategic guidance for countries in their efforts to reduce maternal and child undernutrition. Rooted in learnings from the exemplars in Global Health's Stunting Reduction Exemplars project, we provide a set of recommendations that span investments in sectors that have sustained direct and indirect impact on nutrition. These include interventions to strengthen the food-supply chain and reducing food insecurity to assist those at immediate risk of food shortages. Other strategies could include targeted social safety net programs, payment deferrals, or tax breaks as well as suitable cash-support programs for the most vulnerable. Targeting the most marginalized households in rural populations and urban slums could be achieved through deploying community health workers and supporting women and community members. Community-led sanitation programs could be key to ensuring healthy household environments and reducing undernutrition. Additionally, several COVID-19 response measures such as contact tracing and self-isolation could also be exploited for nutrition protection. Global health and improvements in undernutrition will require governments, donors, and development partners to restrategize and reprioritize investments for the COVID-19 era, and will necessitate data-driven decision making, political will and commitment, and international unity.