HNP Knowledge Brief
122 items available
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The Health, Nutrition and Population Knowledge Briefs of the World Bank are quick reference on the essentials of specific HNP-related topics summarizing new findings and information. These may highlight an issue and key interventions proven to be effective in improving health, or disseminate new findings and lessons learned from the regions. These are produced by the Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice.
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Publication
Trans Fat Elimination
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-09)Artificial trans fats are toxic, unnecessary chemicals that increase the risk of heart attack and death. Consumption causes 540,000 deaths each year globally, similar in magnitude to deaths from malaria and HIV/AIDS. Trans fats are added to processed foods for commercial benefit and commonly found in baked and fried foods, snack food products, and cooking oils and spreads. It is feasible to eliminate artificial trans fats by replacing them with healthier alternatives without altering taste or increasing cost, and many countries have done so. Implementing this cost effective, relatively straightforward policy intervention globally would save 17.5 million lives and healthcare costs, boosting countries’ human capital and productivity. -
Publication
Building High-Quality Health Systems to Improve Nutrition Services for Women and Children: Policy and Implementation Considerations
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-08)A high-quality health systems approach that integrates nutrition is vital to accelerate progress in nutrition and meet the sustainable development goals by 2030.High-quality health systems for nutrition include integrated service provision and supplies, performance monitoring, strategic purchasing, and functioning referral services. Underpinning these components are political leadership and commitment, well-defined quality metrics and quality and timely nutrition data, and an accountability system that nurtures demand for quality services, among others. Several World Bank and Global Financing Facility (GFF) - co-financed projects are investing in building high-quality health system foundations to improve the quality of nutrition services and can serve as examples for improving quality of nutrition care. -
Publication
Regulatory Systems Strengthening for Medicines in Africa: Shining a Spotlight on the World Bank Group’s Decade-Long Contributions
(Washington, DC, 2022-08)The African Medicines Regulatory Harmonization (AMRH) initiative, a multistakeholder partnership, focuses on improving fragmented regulatory systems in the region to ensure faster access to safe, efficacious, and good quality medicines and vaccines. With support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank Group set up a trust fund in 2011 to support AMRH work. Since then, significant improvements have been made across the region, including notable decreases in timelines for the registration of medicines, more harmonized registration systems, and an enhanced focus on quality management and transparency in the drug registration process. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has shown that harmonized and well-established regulatory systems are critical to ensure access to safe, efficacious, and good quality medicines and vaccines. The establishment of the African Medicines Agency, the next chapter in the AMRH initiative, provides the opportunity to continue institutionalizing this important medicine regulatory system’s strengthening work, while increasing country ownership and ensuring sustainability. -
Publication
Salt Reduction at the Population Level
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-08)Excess salt intake is a widespread global problem contributing to increased blood pressure, the leading risk factor for preventable deaths worldwide. Effective and feasible interventions exist to reduce salt intake at a population level, including front-of-package labeling, industry reformulation targets, marketing restrictions, taxing salty products or subsidizing healthier substitutes, reducing salt levels in food served or sold in public institutions, and encouraging individuals to use alternatives to salt at home. Over 90 countries have implemented salt reduction initiatives; however, these have been mostly high- and upper-middle income countries. Implementing cost-effective proven salt reduction approaches can avert millions of preventable deaths, save lives and health care costs, and boost productivity and human capital. -
Publication
Assessing Public Financing for Improving Nutrition Outcomes and Human Capital in Bhutan
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-10)Despite progress on population health outcomes in recent decades, malnutrition remains a policy concern in Bhutan, especially in rural areas and in the eastern region of the country. Addressing malnutrition is high on the government agenda, with clear targets, strategies, and action plans designed to address some specific malnutrition-related challenges. Assessing the level, distribution, and composition of public financing for nutrition is key to informing the design and implementation of corrective policies. Considering the growing burden of disease attributable to overnutrition, it is important that Bhutan’s nutrition action plan prioritizes overnutrition in addition to undernutrition. -
Publication
Assessing Public Financing for Nutrition in Nepal (2011-2017)
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-10)Nepal reports better nutrition indicators than the South Asian average, though significant geographic and income-related inequalities remain in relation to nutrition outcomes. During the last decade, the government of Nepal has made proactive efforts to develop nutrition policy as a multisectoral priority. The total nutrition-related public spending in Nepal stood at 0.73 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in FY 2016-17, up from 0.57 percent of GDP in FY 2011-12. Nutrition-related expenditure is primarily driven by nutrition-sensitive interventions, which may not directly target malnutrition but do contribute to improving general nutritional status in synergy with nutrition-specific policies. On average between FY 2011-12 and FY 2017-18, 80 percent of nutrition-related allocations were spent, and spending of allocations was higher for nutrition-sensitive interventions than for nutrition-specific interventions. The country’s new federal structure and fiscal resource allocation can be an opportunity to improve nutrition-related financing, especially nutrition-specific financing, and reduce nutritional inequalities according to regional needs. -
Publication
Assessing Public Financing for Nutrition in Sri Lanka (2014-2018)
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-10)Relative to other countries in the region, Sri Lanka has invested modestly on nutrition programs and interventions. Current nutrition programs in Sri Lanka need to be reviewed, both in terms of design and beneficiaries, and prioritized in terms of effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and good practices. The resource allocation for nutrition-specific interventions deserves revisiting, considering that these investments are driven by the nutrition agenda, and are more responsive to real needs. Mainstreaming nutrition in other sectors is also necessary, to ensure more voice in decision making, and to strengthen multisectoral engagement and coordination in nutrition. Targeted programs can be more cost-effective than blanket coverage as long as the targets are well selected, and a prioritization exercise is conducted to consider negative side effects. Nutrition awareness-raising programs and educational and promotive activities may deserve more allocation. -
Publication
Assessing Public Financing for Nutrition in Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-10)Overall nutrition-specific expenditure in Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka remains low, although substantial variation exists among these countries. Given the high rates of malnutrition in these countries, it is important to identify more fiscal space for nutrition, and to prioritize funding of proven, high-impact interventions. The share of spending on nutrition-specific versus nutrition-sensitive interventions should be carefully balanced in relation to the expected impact of the interventions being funded. The cause of underutilization of nutrition-related allocations should be analyzed to improve utilization or free up funds for interventions that are high-impact and well-executed. There are substantial limitations to tracking nutrition expenditures within the current budget allocation records. Standardized systems of data collection are recommended for all countries in the region and beyond. Standardized global guidance is needed for defining nutrition-sensitive and nutrition-specific interventions to enhance comparability between studies in different countries. -
Publication
Engaging the Private Sector for the National COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-10)Very few (if any) countries will be able to organize a vaccination campaign covering the entire population, with public resources alone. Partnering with private sector actors is the obvious choice to increase speed and scale. While some countries have experience in collaborating with private actors, others are less prepared and are starting from a position of limited mutual understanding, lack of knowledge about capabilities and resources, and lack of trust and experience in writing and executing contracts. This knowledge brief provides practical guidance to address some of these challenges and to reduce the risks of collaboration with an unfamiliar partner. -
Publication
Challenges and Opportunities of Supply Chain in Time of COVID-19
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-06)A supply chain is an essential building block of any health system. During the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chains have been forced to respond with unprecedented resilience, speed, and agility to cope with the situation at hand. Complete, end-to-end inventory visibility is vital to understand when vaccines, therapeutics, or diagnostics will be available for use. As one of the seven workstreams of Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) Health Systems Connector (HSC), the supply chain workstream, and country counterparts share some insights and lessons learned.