Growth monitoring and promotion as an opportunity to improve early childhood development

Third in a series of posts on IFPRI's work on growth monitoring and promotion (GMP) supported by the Gates Foundation. Read the first post here, and the second here.

Growth monitoring and promotion (GMP) programs are widely used to screen for nutritional and health problems among children, yet they face many challenges in practice. Recent research on the epidemiological foundations of GMP shows that the criteria commonly used in these programs do not accurately diagnose or screen for inadequate growth in individual children.

Despite these limitations and challenges with implementation, GMP remains a routine component of preventive child healthcare in 178 countries worldwide. This widespread reach offers a valuable opportunity: GMP infrastructure, staff, and routine visits with caregivers and their young children could be leveraged to deliver additional benefits-such as early childhood development (ECD)-focused interventions-to children.