Publication: Scaling Up Nutrition in Guinea-Bissau: What Will it Cost?
Date
2017-01
ISSN
Published
2017-01
Author(s)
Kakietek, Jakub
Castro Henriques, Antonio
Schultz, Linda
Mehta, Michelle
Dayton Eberwein, Julia
Akuoku, Jonathan Kweku
Menezes Moreira, Ivone
Balde, Fanceni Henriques
Araujo, Edson C.
Shekar, Meera
Abstract
This paper builds on global experience
and Guinea-Bissau's specific context to identify an
effective nutrition approach along with costs and benefits
of key nutrition interventions. It is intended to help guide
the selection of the most cost-effective interventions as
well as strategies for scaling these up. We estimate that
the costs and benefits of implementing 10 nutrition-specific
interventions in all regions of Guinea-Bissau would require
a public investment of USD 17 million over five years (with
about USD 3 million needed to maintain the current coverage
of the interventions and USD 14 million needed to expand the
coverage to reach 90 percent of the population). The two key
conclusions of this paper are, first, that investing in
nutrition in Guinea-Bissau is cost-effective based on
international standards and, second, that investments in
nutrition can generate very substantial health and economic
benefits, with one dollar spent on nutrition interventions
resulting in about 10 dollars of returns over the productive
lives of children covered by high-impact nutrition
interventions. Economic productivity could potentially
increase by USD 120 million (discounted at 3 percent) over
the productive lives of the beneficiaries, with an
impressive internal rate of return of 9 percent annually.
Theses findings point to a powerful set of
nutrition-specific interventions that represent a high
cost-effective approach to reducing child malnutrition and
stunting in Guinea-Bissau.
Citation
“Kakietek, Jakub; Castro Henriques, Antonio; Schultz, Linda; Mehta, Michelle; Dayton Eberwein, Julia; Akuoku, Jonathan Kweku; Menezes Moreira, Ivone; Balde, Fanceni Henriques; Araujo, Edson C.; Shekar, Meera. 2017. Scaling Up Nutrition in Guinea-Bissau; Scaling Up Nutrition in Guinea-Bissau : What Will it Cost?. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/26417 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”