Good Work--But Not Enough of It : A Review of the World Bank's Experience in Nutrition

The World Bank has been a leader in nutrition policy analysis, and many of the nutrition projects it has supported have been innovative and successful. But though the Bank has developed the economic justification for large-scale investment in nutrition, and has the experience needed to scale up, it has failed to do so. Nutrition lending is an insignificant proportion of the Bank's business, no more than 2.5 per cent of its lending for human development. This level of effort is inconsistent with what the Bank's analytical work has found--that nutrition lending is one of the best economic investments, and critical to progress toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). There are significant institutional constraints to scaling up in nutrition. The paper therefore recommends that, if nutrition is to be put higher on the Bank's agenda, its top management will need to be involved in changing the institutional signals, through: (1) emphasizing that, as a precondition of faster progress toward the MDGs, improving nutrition is a Bank-wide responsibility, not just the business of health staff; (2) making 'improvement in nutritional status' a key development outcome and measure of poverty reduction; (3) creating institutional incentives for staff to focus on nutrition; (4) increasing the Bank's staff capacity in nutrition; and (5) raising a grant fund to help countries and Bank country departments scale up.

Bibliographic Details

Main Author:	Heaver, Richard
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2006-06
Subjects:	AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH, ANEMIA, ANEMIA PREVALENCE, BASIC HEALTH, CAPACITY-BUILDING, CARE CENTERS, CARE FOR CHILDREN, CDD, CENTER FOR HEALTH, CHILD DEVELOPMENT, CHILD FEEDING, CHILD GROWTH, CHILD HEALTH, CLINICS, COMMERCIAL FIRMS, COMMUNICABLE DISEASES, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, COMMUNITY NUTRITION, COMMUNITY NUTRITION WORKERS, COST-EFFECTIVENESS, DAY CARE, DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE, DEVELOPMENT INTERVENTIONS, DEVELOPMENT PLANNING, DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES, DISSEMINATION, EARLY CHILDHOOD, ECONOMIC GROWTH, FOOD CONTROL, FOOD COUPONS, FOOD FORTIFICATION, FOOD POLICY, FOOD SECURITY, FOOD SUPPLEMENTATION, FOOD SUPPLEMENTATION PROGRAMS, FORMAL EDUCATION, GROWTH MONITORING, GROWTH PROMOTION, HEALTH PROMOTION, HEALTH SECTOR, HOME AFFAIRS, HOME VISITS, HOUSEHOLD FOOD SECURITY, HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, IMMUNODEFICIENCY, INCOME GENERATION, INCOME POVERTY, INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY, INTERVENTION, IODINE, IODINE DEFICIENCIES, IODINE DEFICIENCY, IODINE DEFICIENCY CONTROL, IRON, IRON DEFICIENCY, LOCAL COMMUNITIES, LOCAL COMMUNITY, MALNOURISHED CHILDREN, MALNUTRITION, MCH, MICRONUTRIENT MALNUTRITION, MICRONUTRIENT SUPPLEMENTATION, MICRONUTRIENTS, MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOAL, MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS, MINERAL, NURSES, NUTRITION, NUTRITION COUNSELING, NUTRITION EDUCATION, NUTRITION IMPROVEMENT, NUTRITION INDICATORS, NUTRITION INTERVENTIONS, NUTRITION MONITORING, NUTRITION POLICY, NUTRITION PROGRAMS, NUTRITION PROJECTS, NUTRITION SERVICES, NUTRITIONAL STATUS, OUTREACH WORKERS, OVERNUTRITION, PEM, PERSONAL RELATIONS, PILOT PROJECTS, POLICY ANALYSIS, POLICY DIALOGUE, POLICY PROCESS, POOR WOMEN, POVERTY ANALYSIS, POVERTY REDUCTION, POVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGY, POVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGY PAPER, POVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGY PAPERS, PREGNANT WOMEN, PREVALENCE OF MALNUTRITION, PRIMARY EDUCATION, PRODUCTIVITY, PROGRESS, PROTEIN, PROTEIN-ENERGY MALNUTRITION, PUBLIC AWARENESS, PUBLIC POLICY, QUALITY CONTROL, RELIGIOUS LEADERS, REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH, SAFETY NETS, SALT IODIZATION, SERVICE DELIVERY, SOCIAL ACTION, SOCIAL PROTECTION, SOCIAL WELFARE, SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA, SUPPLEMENTARY FEEDING, TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE, UNDERNUTRITION, VITAMIN, VITAMIN A, VULNERABLE GROUPS, VULNERABLE POPULATIONS, WATER SUPPLY, WELFARE EXPENDITURES, WOMAN, WORKERS, YOUNG CHILDREN, YOUTH CLUBS,
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2006/06/7037862/good-work-not-enough-review-world-banks-experience-nutrition https://hdl.handle.net/10986/13738
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