Overcoming the identified sociopolitical barriers to a national nutrition response in Cambodia.
Dr. Weissman conducted a qualitative study to determine the factors hindering an effective national-scale response to addressing young child stunting in Cambodia where stunting among young children remains a significant challenge, and the actions needed to overcome the identified barriers. This study answered two key questions: 1) What is the status of the enabling environment How favorable are current conditions in Cambodia for scaling-up evidence-based complementary feeding policies and programs to reduce child stunting? These conditions include political commitment, policy frameworks and their implementation, technical capacity, financial resources and investments, multisectoral intervention coordination, national coordination and communication structures, and the evidence, information and research available to inform and monitor the response ; and 2) What strategies could be employed to create more favorable conditions? Data were collected through 35 in-depth-interviews with key nutrition stakeholders (government representatives, development partners, defined as multi- and bi-lateral donors and the United Nations, civil society actors, international and national non-governmental organizations and research institutions, and through the collection and review of secondary documents, including policy frameworks and progress reports.
National nutrition strategies that focus on maternal, infant, and young child nutrition in Southeast Asia.
As part of a team led by Alive & Thrive, Dr. Weissman is supporting the production of a manuscript for a study that compared the adopted of national nutrition strategies (NNS) in Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Timor-Leste, and Viet Nam. The study team extracted information on context, objectives, interventions, indicators, strategies, and coordination mechanisms from the most recent NNS in 9 Southeast Asian (SEA) countries. Using descriptive analyses, researchers compared the nutrition-specific and sensitive-interventions in each NNS with those from the Lancet Series: Maternal and Child Undernutrition (2008) and Maternal and Child Nutrition (2013) respectively. Researchers also compared NNS indicators with those of the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Nutrition Targets 2025.
From innovation to scale and impact: Factors influencing adoption of health interventions initiated by FHI 360 in the Asia-Pacific Region.
Dr. Weissman is leading a study that aims to contribute to the public health community’s understanding of how innovations can effectively be taken to scale. It will do so by identifying factors influencing the adoption and scale-up of FHI 360 spearheaded innovations in several Asia-Pacific countries. This study seeks to answer the following research questions: 1. Why was this innovation or new intervention scaled up? (What/who is the driving force behind its adoption at scale? How was consensus reached that this innovation was appropriate for broader reach). 2. What steps were taken from innovation proven effective to scale? (Who was involved and what was their role?). 3. What factors were associated with innovations being successfully scaled up through one of four specific pathways (quantitative scale-up: expansion in size, geographic base, and/or budget; diversification: adding new interventions to existing innovations; policy/legal scale-up: expanding reach though political or legal action; phased/cascade scale-up). The researchers will purposefully select a geographically diverse portfolio of projects (4 in total) that meet the study inclusion criteria and collect qualitative data by reviewing project documentation, and conducting in-depth interviews (IDI’s) of purposefully sampled individuals, including project staff, donors, government officials, implementing partners, and other stakeholders who supported, funded, and/or were involved in implementation and/or scale-up of the innovation.