An Investment Framework for Nutrition in Zambia : Reducing Stunting and Other Forms of Child Malnutrition
This paper builds on global experience and Zambia's specific context to identify aneffective nutrition approach along with costs and benefits of key nutrition interventions. It isintended to help guide the selection of the most cost-effective...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2017
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/652911506528094122/An-investment-framework-for-nutrition-in-Zambia-reducing-stunting-and-other-forms-of-child-malnutrition http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28496 |
| Summary: | This paper builds on global experience
and Zambia's specific context to identify aneffective
nutrition approach along with costs and benefits of key
nutrition interventions. It isintended to help guide the
selection of the most cost-effective interventions as well
as strategiesfor scaling these up. The paper considers both
relevant "nutrition-specific" interventions,
largelydelivered through the health sector, and
multisectoral "nutrition-sensitive" interventions,
delivered through other sectors such as agriculture,
education, and water and sanitation. We estimate that the
costs and benefits of implementing 10 nutrition-specific
interventions would require an annual public investment of
$40.5 million and would avert over 112,000 DALYs, save over
2,800 lives, and prevent 62,000 cases of stunting. Economic
productivity could potentially increase by $915 million
annually over the productive lives of the beneficiaries,
with an impressive internal rate of return of 32 percent.
However, because it is unlikely that the Government of the
Zambia or its partners will find the $40.5 million necessary
each year to reach full coverage, we also consider scale-up
scenarios based on considerations of their potential for
impact, burden of stunting, resource requirements, and
implementation capacity. The two scenarios that scale up the
nine most cost-effective nutrition-specific interventions
(excluding the public provision of complementary foods) are
the most advantageous in terms of cost-effectiveness and
resource requirements and would require $11 million to scale
up to partial levels and $23 to scale up to full coverage
levels. Among the 8 nutrition-specific interventions we
consider, school-baseddeworming is low cost and effective.
The interventions we reviewed in the agriculture sector
areexpensive when compared to nutrition-specific
interventions, although very little cost effectiveness data
are available for the nutrition-sensitive interventions to
make carefulcomparisons. These findings point to a powerful
set of nutrition-specific interventions and acandidate list
of nutrition-sensitive approaches that represent a highly
cost-effective approach toreducing child malnutrition in Zambia. |
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