Holt’s Child Nutrition Program

How Holt’s Child Nutrition Program Works

The Holt International Child Nutrition Program is proving highly successful at reducing malnutrition among vulnerable children in childcare centers, at community sites and in foster care programs around the world. By bringing together NGOs, medical experts, front-line caregivers and local government representatives, Holt’s child nutrition program puts in place sound tools and practices that our partners and caregivers can use to implement, track and evaluate critical nutrition and feeding changes. The program focuses primarily on vulnerable children most at risk for nutrition-related illnesses, especially young children and those with disabilities. At the same time, the program works to standardize new practices across care centers, programs and communities so they become routine. In this way, all children in care will benefit from nutrition, health and growth standards initiatives.

Training Caregivers

Holt leads multiple-day, in-person training sessions with on-the-ground staff and caregivers at partnering programs and care centers overseas. Through these trainings, caregivers learn about key health and nutrition interventions to better serve the children and help them grow. From training in how to prevent and treat diarrhea or anemia to addressing wasting and stunting, trainees receive pivotal education that improves their practice of caregiving. Holt commits to equipping our partners with nutrition and feeding manuals, translated into their local language by Holt. We also furnish all necessary equipment to ensure our partners are prepared to accurately assess and monitor the health and nutrition of children, and provide any needed interventions to improve their overall health and wellbeing.

Assessing Children

Once trained, the first action of our partner staff is to assess the baseline nutrition and health of each child in their programs. Caregivers and staff collect information including height, weight, arm circumference, head circumference, illnesses, feeding development, diet and other key data. To track and monitor each child’s progress over time, routine nutrition screenings are completed. This data can then be used to better improve care practices as well as the health and nutritional interventions provided. By using standardized practices, this remarkable methodology can be replicated at sites around the world, effectively transforming the care of each child served.

New Tools

Often, care centers lack the basic tools needed to accurately track a child’s growth and overall health. In addition, many countries have yet begun to implement electronic health record management systems. Holt not only provides the appropriate equipment to complete measurements, but also provides sites with an electronic health record system designed to be robust in application, yet simple to use.

Nutrition Interventions

When a child is determined to be at risk for malnutrition, trained staff provide nutrition interventions such as supplements to ensure the child receives adequate amounts of vitamins and minerals. Some children simply need more nutrition-rich snacks, and care centers may need to introduce a more diverse array of meal options or adjust menus. Even minor changes like these are critical to meeting children’s individual nutritional needs.