Improving birth outcomes through enhanced targeting of nutrition interventions to mothers and children during the 1000 days from pregnancy to age two through use of biometric technology

Under-nutrition is the underlying cause of 3.5 million preventable maternal and child deaths each year. JSI is developing innovative technology to support the delivery of nutrition actions at critical times in the life-cycle of women, infants and young children, especially during the 1,000 days between a woman's pregnancy and her child's second birthday. JSI proposes to use biometric technology to enhance targeting of nutrition interventions to mothers and children; improving service delivery by ensuring services reach those in need; and increasing demand by targeting the poor and hard to reach, especially women and children, leveraging their increased access to the health system to empower them to expect and demand more of the system.

The objective is to use biometric technology to track nutrition supplements, food and other commodities through the "last mile" to the actual recipient. Even with current elaborate systems that include ration cards, photo identification, and bar codes, there are weak points along every distribution chain that prevent commodities from reaching intended recipients. Linking biometrics to commodities is the only fail proof system that ensures intended beneficiaries receive their rations and improve their nutrition status. The impact will be improved nutrition levels supported by an affordable, scalable system that targets nutrition intervention to women and children.

Biometric innovations offer an opportunity to integrate services provided to individuals across the nutrition, food aid, and health sectors, filling an information and implementation gap to create a useful health profile for coordinated delivery of services.