Exclusive breastfeeding is ranked as the number one preventative child survival intervention while appropriate and timely complementary feeding is ranked as number three

Globally, the implementation of optimal infant and young child feeding (IYCF) can prevent up to 1.4 million deaths annually. Maternal breastfeeding and appropriate complementary feeding provide optimal nutrition in early years of life and benefit both the mother and the infant later in life. To address jordan¿S nutrition challenges, USAID/jordan anticipates awarding two companion activities. The first, community health and nutrition, is a five-year cooperative agreement to work with communities and health care providers to improve the nutritional status of children under five and pregnant and lactating women by improving breastfeeding practices, introducing appropriate complementary foods at the right time, and ensuring appropriate child spacing through postpartum family planning (FP) and continuation of modern forms of contraception. The second, described here, is USAID¿S nutrition innovation lab which will be a companion award to the community health and nutrition activity, to link program learning with program implementation, and to improve the level of public health nutrition academic knowledge in jordan