Abstract
Although the technical community has established that infant and young child nutrition plays an important role in preventing or alleviating other global health challenges, the advocacy community often struggles to raise the profile of the issue. The challenge with nutrition is that the complex nature of the topic, along with the technical terminology used by the nutrition community, can make discussions inaccessible to the audiences that are vital to building sustained support and investment in interventions. In order to successfully engage these audiences—including the public, policy makers, and the food industry—advocates must change the approach to the discussion and rethink the language we use.
To better understand these audiences, Hart Research Associates (Washington, DC) and GMMB (Washington) undertook a multiphase research effort to gauge current perceptions of infant and young child nutrition. 1 The research, conducted on behalf of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, was designed not only to help clarify the challenges and opportunities that advocates face, but also to contribute insight to the establishment of a unified and consistent message platform for the nutrition community.
Methodology
A combination of qualitative and quantitative research (Table 1) was conducted in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ghana, and Nigeria. Research was conducted between September 2009 and January 2010.
Key Findings
The issue of malnutrition is understood to be a significant global concern
When considered in the context of other global health and development challenges that frequently receive foreign aid, malnutrition consistently ranks as a top-tier priority that is worthy of investment. This finding gives advocates an exceptionally strong position from which to work—with an audience that not only understands the issue of malnutrition, but also recognizes nutrition as an essential global need. The problem is perceived to be even more serious when children are involved, with the phrase “critical window of opportunity” providing a sense of urgency around the problem. An important finding is that while participants connected with the word “malnutrition,” more technical terms such as “undernutrition” or ”food security,” which are commonly used by the nutrition community, did not resonate.
The most effective arguments for nutrition support appeal to both logic and emotion
Powerful and persuasive messages across audiences combined the concepts that “nutrition is a strong investment that will result in future benefits” and is also “the right thing to do” to ensure that people have basic necessities of life. This approach gets at both humanitarian concerns and a desire to support aid projects that lead to self-sufficiency.
Focus on opportunity and solvability
Audiences favor messages that highlight the benefits of improving nutrition, rather than the negative effects of malnutrition. The scope and consequences associated with many global health challenges are perceived as being so big and complex that no intervention can make a real improvement in the situation so any effort appears futile. Instead, a focus on actionable opportunities to make a difference through a limited set of specific, proven interventions alleviates the perception that all potential solutions are costly and resource-intensive. For example, in the qualitative research, when ideas of nutrition interventions were discussed, participants conjured up images of caravans or food drops—not breastfeeding. By quickly identifying concrete interventions, advocates can more effectively overcome misperceptions about and barriers to solvability.
Discussion
Unified messaging has long been a challenge in the nutrition community—for both technical experts and advocates. When there is discord regarding priorities within the community, it is not surprising that external audiences do not understand efforts or hesitate to commit support. A fractured message does not instill a sense of assurance on the approach.
The Lancet series on Maternal and Child Undernutrition 2 (launched in January 2008) is often seen as a statement of technical consensus on the primary interventions for improving maternal and child nutrition. Coming together around these core research principles, experts have been able to strengthen their technical argument for nutrition support.
A confluence of events—from the U.S. Global Health Initiative to the countdown on the Millennium Development Goals—now gives advocates their own “window of opportunity” to integrate infant and young child nutrition interventions into broader health programs. There is a new energy in the nutrition community and a momentum behind efforts to create sustainable changes. The World Bank report Scaling Up Nutrition—What Will It Cost?, 3 published in 2010, and the ongoing effort to build policy consensus around Scaling Up Nutrition, which lays out a broad framework for action on undernutrition, demonstrate both the need and opportunity to address malnutrition. Already, more than 100 country partners, United Nations partners, academia, and civil society organizations have signed on to support the Scaling Up Nutrition policy framework. By presenting a unified messaging approach, advocates can be even more effective in promoting nutrition as a funding priority.
This research did not seek to dictate the exact words or phrasing that advocates need to best communicate ideas. Rather, this effort provides new insight into key audiences that have the ability or authority to affect decisions regarding resources dedicated to nutrition. The goal is to help communicators better understand how audiences can be effectively engaged and motivated. By contributing to the broader discussion on messaging about infant and young child nutrition, the research aims to provide a foundation from which a unified message platform can be built. From this platform, advocates can continue the current momentum by capitalizing on the opportunities now emerging in global health and development and advance the issue of infant and young child nutrition.
Footnotes
Acknowledgments
We extend special thanks and appreciation to Molly O'Rourke at Hart Research Associates.
Disclosure Statement
No competing financial interests exist.