An African American mom gently cradles her newborn daughter against her chest. She is wrapped up and swaddled and is sleeping with a content expression as she grips mom's finger with her tiny little hand.
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The LIFT-UP Project: Low Birthweight and Preterm Infant Feeding Trial and Supportive Care Package

LIFT-UP aims to close a critical know-do gap: there are feeding practices and supportive care interventions that we know can help small vulnerable newborns survive and thrive, but they don’t reach all who can benefit.

LIFT-UP is a group of studies investigating ways to improve feeding and growth of small vulnerable newborns (SVNs) in low-resource settings. These infants — born preterm, small for their gestational age or a combination of the two — account for 55.3% of global neonatal deaths. 

Although there are concrete steps clinicians, mothers, and families can take to care for these infants, proven interventions don’t reach all who need them.

LIFT-UP includes two main components:

Facility-Based Feeding Support Package Plus (FSP+)

A comprehensive support and counseling package co-designed, implemented, and evaluated to improve practices in lactation, mother’s own milk feeding, Kangaroo Mother Care, and safe hygiene in India, Tanzania, and Malawi.

Explore FSP+

Human Milk Fortification RCT

A randomized controlled trial exploring the efficacy of human milk fortification for very low birthweight and/or very preterm infants on growth and morbidity outcomes in India.

Explore the trial

Building a Global Good

Beyond strengthening the evidence base, LIFT-UP created a global good. 

The Feeding Support Package Plus (FSP+) was co-designed with the people who ultimately use its tools — government and facility leadership, clinicians and community providers, mothers and families — and evaluated through implementation science research to ensure it is practical in the real world. 

The FSP+ is freely available to download, use, and adapt to local contexts so facility leadership and managers as well as policymakers around the world can put it to work in their own settings. 

Featured content

Explore the LIFT-UP Study

Overview: The LIFT-UP Study

A concise overview of the LIFT-UP study — its aims, design, and components.

Read the overview

Learn more about LIFT-UP

Learn more about the LIFT-UP study, early results, and implementation stories.

LIFT-UP Consortium Partners

  • Ariadne Labs, United States
  • Community Empowerment Lab, Lucknow, India
  • Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Belgaum, India
  • University of North Carolina–Project Malawi, Lilongwe, Malawi
  • Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
  • Emory University, Atlanta, GA
  • Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA
  • Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA
  • Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA
  • The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI
  • PATH, Seattle, WA

This work was supported by the Gates Foundation [INV-042213]. The conclusions and opinions expressed in this work are those of the LIFT-UP Consortium and shall not be attributed to the foundation.

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