Minimum Acceptable Diet (MAD)

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

Accoridng 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 recently added 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, that is why they are included as an essential part of Minimum Acceptable Diet for non-breastfed children. Exclusion of food group "dairy products" avoids double-counting of this food group.

2) For further guidance (including the recommended survey questions), please read 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 eight food group); however, there have not been any news whether this change will have any implication on the methodology used by MAD indicator.  

3) MAD is one of ECHO's Key Outcome Indicators (see below).