Description: The Nutrition MDG Indicator : Interpreting Progress

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The Nutrition MDG Indicator : Interpreting Progress

This paper argues for more nuance in the interpretation of progress towards the Nutrition Millennium Development Goal indicator (halving the prevalence of underweight children, under 5 years old, by 2015). Interpretation of a country's perform...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Chhabra, Ritu, Rokx, Claudia
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2013
Subjects:	ALLIANCES ANEMIA BIRTHS CHILD DEATHS CHILD GROWTH CHILD GROWTH DATA CHILD HEALTH CHILD SURVIVAL CHILDHOOD MORTALITY CHRONIC MALNUTRITION CLASSIFICATION OF MALNUTRITION COMMUNITY NUTRITION DETERMINANTS OF MALNUTRITION DEVELOPMENT GOALS DIET DIRECT NUTRITION INTERVENTIONS EXTREME POVERTY FEEDING FOOD DISTRIBUTION FOOD POLICY FOOD SECURITY FOOD STAMPS GROWTH PROMOTION HEALTH CARE HOUSEHOLDS HUMAN DEVELOPMENT HUNGER IMCI INCOME GROWTH INFANTS INFECTION INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT OF CHILDHOOD ILLNESS INTERVENTION IODINE IODINE DEFICIENCY IRON IRON DEFICIENCY LBW LIVING STANDARDS LOW BIRTH WEIGHT LOW BIRTHWEIGHT MALNUTRITION MALNUTRITION IN CHILDREN MALNUTRITION RATES MICRONUTRIENT DEFICIENCIES MILK MONITORING NATURAL DISASTERS NUTRITION NUTRITION IMPROVEMENT NUTRITION INDICATORS NUTRITION INTERVENTIONS NUTRITION PROGRAMS NUTRITION PROJECTS NUTRITION SURVEYS NUTRITIONAL STATUS OBESITY POVERTY INDICATOR POVERTY REDUCTION POVERTY REDUCTION EFFORTS PREGNANT WOMEN PREVALENCE OF MALNUTRITION PROTEIN PUBLIC HEALTH RELIEF FOOD ROADS RURAL DEVELOPMENT RURAL POPULATIONS SANITATION SCHOOL HEALTH SOCIAL INDICATORS STUNTING SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT THE GAMBIA UNDERWEIGHT CHILDREN UNDERWEIGHT RATES VITAMIN A WASTING YOUNG CHILD
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2004/05/6675574/nutrition-mdg-indicator-interpreting-progress http://hdl.handle.net/10986/13624

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Summary:	This paper argues for more nuance in the interpretation of progress towards the Nutrition Millennium Development Goal indicator (halving the prevalence of underweight children, under 5 years old, by 2015). Interpretation of a country's performance based on trends alone is ambiguous, and can lead to erroneous prioritization of countries in need of donor assistance. For instance, a country may halve the prevalence by 2015, but will still have unacceptable high malnutrition rates. This paper analyses which countries are showing satisfactory and unsatisfactory progress using the Annual Rate of Change (ARC), and then introduces the World Health Organization-classification of severity of malnutrition in the analysis to provide more nuance. It highlights that a little less than half of the Bank's client population is likely to halve underweight by 2015. Although the paper uses national data only, it flags the risks and recommends that countries take regional disparities into their needs-analysis. The paper also argues for more attention to the other important nutrition indicators, stunting and micronutrient deficiencies, which remain enormous problems, and briefly discusses solutions to reducing underweight malnutrition.