Better health for women : research results from the maternal nutrition and health care program

Results of program research are summarized in this report. Chapter 1 discusses the design and management of the MNHC Program, highlighting the key components that contributed to its success. Chapters 2 through 4 discuss the main results of the 20 research projects supported under the program. Chapter 2 focuses on results related to maternal nutrition, chapter 3 focuses on results related to prenatal care, and chapter 4 presents results related particularly to prenatal care for adolescents. Each chapter briefly reviews key issues in the research area under discussion, presents findings pertinent to these issues, and discusses the research and policy implications of the findings. The review of key issues is not intended to be a comprehensive literature review on any topic. References to the literature merely provide a context for the research results. Chapter 5 draws on results across MNHC projects to discuss priorities for further research on maternal health and nutrition interventions for women in developing countries. In addition to the project summaries found in appendix A, a separate final report of each project that describes its methodology and results in detail is available from ICRW (MNHC Program Research Report Series). (Author abstract, modified)