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This report explores the future financing of nutrition interventions. It finds that if full and timely investment is made in these key interventions, then countries with high burdens of undernutrition stand a much greater chance of saving the lives of millions of children and providing them with the opportunity to lead full, healthy lives and… Read more
Investments in aid to tackle the escalating challenge of undernutrition remain inadequate. This report calls for all major donors to disburse more overseas development assistance to programmes which treat undernutrition and address its underlying causes in countries where the need is greatest. It found that between 2005 and 2009, ten of the world’s leading bilateral… Read more
This speech focuses on addressing poor nutrition, with a specific focus on stunting. It states that the 2008 Copenhagen Consensus recommended priorities for confronting the top ten global challenges, ranking the provision of young children with micronutrients as the most cost-effective way to advance global welfare. The author urges governments to invest in programmes to… Read more
Despite the evidence suggesting that nutrition interventions have the potential to have a positive impact in health and education and on preserving human capital in crises-stricken countries for generations to come, official development assistance for nutrition remains minimal. This report estimates the cost of scaling up a minimal package of 13 proven nutrition interventions from… Read more
This paper reports on the findings from studies in Bangladesh, Bolivia, Guatemala, Peru and Vietnam which sought to identify the challenges in the policy process and ways to overcome them, notably with respect to commitment, agenda setting, policy formulation and implementation. The key findings were as follows: • Strengthening the full spectrum of policy activities… Read more
The Hunger and Nutrition Commitment Index (HANCI) ranks governments on their political commitment to tackling hunger and undernutrition. The index was created to provide greater transparency and public accountability by measuring what governments achieve, and where they fail, in addressing hunger and undernutrition. Guatemala (which was ranked first by the index) displayed substantial political commitment… Read more
This article outlines why political commitment is especially vital for undernutrition reduction compared with other development outcomes. It suggests some of the reasons for this lack of commitment and puts forward a number of approaches to be tested on how such commitment can be fostered as part of an overall enabling environment for undernutrition reduction…. Read more
This briefing informs government leaders, policymakers and key stakeholders of the Scaling Up Nutrition movement, how they can better mobilise political commitment for undernutrition reduction and how they can facilitate cooperation across national and local institutions, and among nutritionists, civil society and the private sector. It is based on evidence from six countries (Bangladesh, Brazil,… Read more
This document summarises the evidence and information related to water and health, encompassing drinking-water supply, sanitation, hygiene, and the development and management of water resources. It collects the ingredients that support policy decisions, namely the disease burden at stake, the effectiveness of interventions, their costs and impacts, and implications for financing. It finds that one… Read more
In low income countries, diarrhoea among young children is a major cause of death and disease, and is often the result of exposure to human faeces. This review found that in low-income settings, among the estimated 2.6 billion people who lack basic sanitation. The evidence suggests that excreta disposal interventions are effective in preventing diarrhoeal… Read more
Poverty, food insecurity, ignorance, lack of appropriate infant and young child feeding practices, heavy burden of infectious illnesses, and poor hygiene and sanitation are factors responsible for the high levels of maternal and child undernutrition in developing countries. These factors can be controlled or removed by scaling up direct nutrition interventions and eliminating the root… Read more