Nutrition
The document library features summaries and links to editorially-selected publications on the key themes of health, education, nutrition, social protection and WASH. The documents are sourced from academic research, policy papers and global development organisations.
Cash transfer programs have become extremely popular in the developing world. A large literature analyzes their effects on schooling, health and nutrition, but relatively little is known about possible impacts on child development. This paper analyzes the impact of a cash transfer program on early childhood cognitive development. Children in households randomly assigned to receive… Read more
Background Mexico’s conditional cash transfer programme, Oportunidades, was started to improve the lives of poor families through interventions in health, nutrition, and education. We investigated the effect of Oportunidades on children almost 10 years after the programme began. Methods From April, 1998, to October, 1999, low-income communities were randomly assigned to be enrolled in Oportunidades… Read more
Many policymakers propose early childhood nutrition programs as a way to increase students’ academic achievement. This paper investigates the nutrition–learning nexus using a unique longitudinal data set that follows a large sample of Filipino children from birth until the end of their primary education. We find that better nourished children perform significantly better in school,… Read more
Background Parenting programmes are effective in enhancing parenting practices and child development. This study evaluated the effects of a intervention with psychosocial stimulation (PS) on the quality of the home environment and mothers’ child-rearing practices in a community-based trial with severely malnourished Bangladeshi children. Method Severely underweight children (n = 507), 6–24 months of age, were randomly assigned… Read more
This framework is aimed at DFID staff. It is intended to consolidate and explain the changes that are happening within DFID to strengthen disability inclusion in their policies and programmes, and outline the actions they are taking over the next 12 months.
There is little unequivocal evidence that nutritional supplementation of undernourished children has a beneficial effect on their mental development. The effects of nutritional supplementation, with or without psychosocial stimulation, of growth-retarded (stunted) children aged 9-24 months were assessed in a study in Kingston, Jamaica. 129 children from poor neighbourhoods were randomly assigned to four groups—control,… Read more
Background: A growing literature has linked early childhood growth to later-life cognition and schooling outcomes in developing countries. Although existing evidence suggests that children’s ability to recover from early growth delays in later childhood is limited, longitudinal studies on the persistence and risk of growth faltering beyond age 5 y remain scarce. Objective: Using longitudinal… Read more
This report is the second in a Series on early child development in low-income and middle-income countries and assesses the effectiveness of early child development interventions, such as parenting support and preschool enrolment. The evidence reviewed suggests that early child development can be improved through these interventions, with effects greater for programmes of higher quality… Read more
This paper is the third in the Child Development Series. The first paper showed that more than 200 million children under 5 years of age in developing countries do not reach their developmental potential. The second paper identified four well-documented risks: stunting, iodine deficiency, iron deficiency anaemia, and inadequate cognitive stimulation, plus four potential risks… Read more
Considerable progress has been made over the past decade towards Millennium Development Goal 4. The number of deaths among children younger than 5 years has declined from 12 million in 1990 to 6·9 million in 2011.1 But do the surviving children have an equal chance to realise their human potential, achieve social justice, and contribute… Read more
This report puts forward recommendations for how the US government can better address climate change through its policies on global agricultural development. It argues for the United States to rally international resources and deploy its agricultural research enterprise—its universities, research institutes, and agrifood businesses—to gather more information about how climate change will affect the global… Read more