Publication: Assessing Public Financing for Nutrition in Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka
Loading...
Date
2021-10
ISSN
Published
2021-10
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
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.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2021. Assessing Public Financing for Nutrition in Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. Health, Nutrition and Population Knowledge Brief;. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36622 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
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 Sri Lanka (2014–2018)(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2020-02-29)This study aims to assess the public financing for nutrition in Sri Lanka. The primary purpose is to understand the size and share of public investments in nutrition relative to the overall level of public expenditure in the country. Second, it discusses whether the nutrition interventions in which the government budget is spent are in line with the global evidence base and priorities set out in national policies. It also provides some recommendations on how such assessments could be improved from challenges and difficulties faced in undertaking this exercise. This report begins with background and contextual information of nutrition in Sri Lanka (chapter two). It then provides an overview of globally practiced nutrition interventions and policies and programs that have been implemented in the country (chapter three). Chapter four describes the approach used for the analysis followed by results and findings in chapter five. The report concludes with brief discussions on key findings, challenges, and recommendations in chapter six.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 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 India : Food Security and Nutrition in Tribal Areas(Washington, DC, 2014-06-10)This study seeks to examine how National Rural Livelihoods Mission or NRLM may be leveraged to improve food and nutrition security (FNS) in tribal areas, preferably in a manner that would enhance the effectiveness of the program's core livelihoods focus. More broadly, the objective is to strengthen the capacity of the Government of India (GoI) to deliver (or support) effective FNS interventions in tribal and backward areas (TABAs). As such, the study aims to do the following: develop the evidence base on those constraints which STs face with regard to achieving food security and favorable nutritional outcomes; examine approaches which have been used to address issues of poor nutrition elsewhere in India or abroad to identify interventions that could be effective in tribal areas; and Recommend models for improving FNS in tribal areas within the context of NRLM. The primary focus of this work is operationally oriented toward identifying entry points for NRLM to address tribal malnutrition as it expands into states with larger tribal communities, particularly Jharkhand and Odisha.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Global Economic Prospects, January 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-01-16)Global growth is expected to hold steady at 2.7 percent in 2025-26. However, the global economy appears to be settling at a low growth rate that will be insufficient to foster sustained economic development—with the possibility of further headwinds from heightened policy uncertainty and adverse trade policy shifts, geopolitical tensions, persistent inflation, and climate-related natural disasters. Against this backdrop, emerging market and developing economies are set to enter the second quarter of the twenty-first century with per capita incomes on a trajectory that implies substantially slower catch-up toward advanced-economy living standards than they previously experienced. Without course corrections, most low-income countries are unlikely to graduate to middle-income status by the middle of the century. Policy action at both global and national levels is needed to foster a more favorable external environment, enhance macroeconomic stability, reduce structural constraints, address the effects of climate change, and thus accelerate long-term growth and development.Publication Services Unbound(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-12-09)Services are a new force for innovation, trade, and growth in East Asia and Pacific. The dramatic diffusion of digital technologies and partial policy reforms in services--from finance, communication, and transport to retail, health, and education--is transforming these economies. The result is higher productivity and changing jobs in the services sector, as well as in the manufacturing sectors that use these services. A region that has thrived through openness to trade and investment in manufacturing still maintains innovation-inhibiting barriers to entry and competition in key services sectors. 'Services Unbound: Digital Technologies and Policy Reform in East Asia and Pacific' makes the case for deeper domestic reforms and greater international cooperation to unleash a virtuous cycle of increased economic opportunity and enhanced human capacity that would power development in the region.Publication Business Ready 2024(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-03)Business Ready (B-READY) is a new World Bank Group corporate flagship report that evaluates the business and investment climate worldwide. It replaces and improves upon the Doing Business project. B-READY provides a comprehensive data set and description of the factors that strengthen the private sector, not only by advancing the interests of individual firms but also by elevating the interests of workers, consumers, potential new enterprises, and the natural environment. This 2024 report introduces a new analytical framework that benchmarks economies based on three pillars: Regulatory Framework, Public Services, and Operational Efficiency. The analysis centers on 10 topics essential for private sector development that correspond to various stages of the life cycle of a firm. The report also offers insights into three cross-cutting themes that are relevant for modern economies: digital adoption, environmental sustainability, and gender. B-READY draws on a robust data collection process that includes specially tailored expert questionnaires and firm-level surveys. The 2024 report, which covers 50 economies, serves as the first in a series that will expand in geographical coverage and refine its methodology over time, supporting reform advocacy, policy guidance, and further analysis and research.Publication Women, Business and the Law 2024(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-03-04)Women, Business and the Law 2024 is the 10th in a series of annual studies measuring the enabling conditions that affect women’s economic opportunity in 190 economies. To present a more complete picture of the global environment that enables women’s socioeconomic participation, this year Women, Business and the Law introduces two new indicators—Safety and Childcare—and presents findings on the implementation gap between laws (de jure) and how they function in practice (de facto). This study presents three indexes: (1) legal frameworks, (2) supportive frameworks (policies, institutions, services, data, budget, and access to justice), and (3) expert opinions on women’s rights in practice in the areas measured. The study’s 10 indicators—Safety, Mobility, Workplace, Pay, Marriage, Parenthood, Childcare, Entrepreneurship, Assets, and Pension—are structured around the different stages of a woman’s working life. Findings from this new research can inform policy discussions to ensure women’s full and equal participation in the economy. The indicators build evidence of the critical relationship between legal gender equality and women’s employment and entrepreneurship. Data in Women, Business and the Law 2024 are current as of October 1, 2023.Publication Recipe for a Livable Planet(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-09-20)The global agrifood system has been largely overlooked in the fight against climate change. Yet, greenhouse gas emissions from the agrifood system are so big that they alone could cause the world to miss the goal of keeping global average temperatures from rising above 1.5 centigrade compared to preindustrial levels. Greenhouse gas emissions from agrifood must be cut to net zero by 2050 to achieve this goal. Recipe for a Livable Planet: Achieving Net Zero Emissions in the Agrifood System offers the first comprehensive global strategic framework to mitigate the agrifood system’s contributions to climate change, detailing affordable and readily available measures that can cut nearly a third of the world’s planet heating emissions while ensuring global food security. These actions, which are urgently needed, offer three additional benefits: improving food supply reliability, strengthening the global food system’s resilience to climate change, and safeguarding vulnerable populations. This practical guide outlines global actions and specific steps that countries at all income levels can take starting now, focusing on six key areas: investments, incentives, information, innovation, institutions, and inclusion. Calling for collaboration among governments, businesses, citizens, and international organizations, it maps a pathway to making agrifood a significant contributor to addressing climate change and healing the planet.