Minimum Acceptable Diet

The indicator assesses the acceptability of a child's diet based on its micronutrient adequacy and meal frequency.

According to WHO/UNICEF 2010 guidance (see below), the calculation of this indicator is different for breastfed and non-breastfed children:

Breastfed children: A breastfed child is considered to have a Minimum Acceptable Diet if the child: 

  1) Met the Minimum Meal Frequency for breastfed children.

  2) During the previous day and night consumed meals consisting of at least 4 food groups used by the Minimum Dietary Diversity (MDD) indicator; however, not counting the food group "breast milk".

Non-breasfed children: A non-breastfed child is considered to have a Minimum Acceptable Diet if the child: 

  1) Met the Minimum Meal Frequency for non-breastfed children.

  2) During the previous day and night consumed meals consisting of at least 4 food groups used by the Minimum Dietary Diversity (MDD) indicator; however, not counting the food group "dairy products" (see comment below). 

  3) During the previous day and night consumed at least 2 milk feedings (this includes infant formula / milk / yogurt). 

To calculate the indicator's value:

  - add up the number of 1) breastfed and 2) non-breastfed children who had a Minimum Acceptable Diet

  - divide this number by the total number of surveyed breastfed and non-breastfed children

  - multiply the result by 100 to convert it to a percentage

Disaggregate the data by gender, age groups, and wealth.

1) Milk feeds are considered a separate and required element for non-breastfed children in this indicator, which is why they are included as an essential part of the Minimum Acceptable Diet for non-breastfed children. The exclusion of the food group "dairy products" avoids double-counting of this food group.

2) If the caregiver is taking care of two children aged 6 - 23 months (from the same household) and household sampling has been used, then data should be collected for both children. If a list method has been used and children have been identified as the primary sampling unit, then data should only be collected for the sampled child.

3) For further guidance (including the recommended survey questions), please read the section "7. Minimum acceptable diet" in UNICEF/WHO 2010 guidance. Be aware that the guidance on Minimum Dietary Diversity (MDD) was recently changed (breast milk was included as the eighth food group).

4) Another way of presenting dietary diversity data is by using UNICEF’s concept of Child Food Poverty. According to UNICEF’s report (see below), if children are fed:

      - 0–2 food groups/day they are living in severe child food poverty

      - 3–4 food groups/day they are living in moderate child food poverty

      - 5 or more food groups/day they are not living in child food poverty

5) Minimum Acceptable Diet is one of ECHO's Key Outcome Indicators (see below).