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

Heaver, Richard2013-06-042013-06-042006-06https://hdl.handle.net/10986/13738The 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.en-USCC BY 3.0 IGOAGRICULTURAL RESEARCHANEMIAANEMIA PREVALENCEBASIC HEALTHCAPACITY-BUILDINGCARE CENTERSCARE FOR CHILDRENCDDCENTER FOR HEALTHCHILD DEVELOPMENTCHILD FEEDINGCHILD GROWTHCHILD HEALTHCLINICSCOMMERCIAL FIRMSCOMMUNICABLE DISEASESCOMMUNITY DEVELOPMENTCOMMUNITY NUTRITIONCOMMUNITY NUTRITION WORKERSCOST-EFFECTIVENESSDAY CAREDEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCEDEVELOPMENT INTERVENTIONSDEVELOPMENT PLANNINGDEVELOPMENT STRATEGIESDISSEMINATIONEARLY CHILDHOODECONOMIC GROWTHFOOD CONTROLFOOD COUPONSFOOD FORTIFICATIONFOOD POLICYFOOD SECURITYFOOD SUPPLEMENTATIONFOOD SUPPLEMENTATION PROGRAMSFORMAL EDUCATIONGROWTH MONITORINGGROWTH PROMOTIONHEALTH PROMOTIONHEALTH SECTORHOME AFFAIRSHOME VISITSHOUSEHOLD FOOD SECURITYHUMAN DEVELOPMENTIMMUNODEFICIENCYINCOME GENERATIONINCOME POVERTYINSTITUTIONAL CAPACITYINTERVENTIONIODINEIODINE DEFICIENCIESIODINE DEFICIENCYIODINE DEFICIENCY CONTROLIRONIRON DEFICIENCYLOCAL COMMUNITIESLOCAL COMMUNITYMALNOURISHED CHILDRENMALNUTRITIONMCHMICRONUTRIENT MALNUTRITIONMICRONUTRIENT SUPPLEMENTATIONMICRONUTRIENTSMILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALMILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALSMINERALNURSESNUTRITIONNUTRITION COUNSELINGNUTRITION EDUCATIONNUTRITION IMPROVEMENTNUTRITION INDICATORSNUTRITION INTERVENTIONSNUTRITION MONITORINGNUTRITION POLICYNUTRITION PROGRAMSNUTRITION PROJECTSNUTRITION SERVICESNUTRITIONAL STATUSOUTREACH WORKERSOVERNUTRITIONPEMPERSONAL RELATIONSPILOT PROJECTSPOLICY ANALYSISPOLICY DIALOGUEPOLICY PROCESSPOOR WOMENPOVERTY ANALYSISPOVERTY REDUCTIONPOVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGYPOVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGY PAPERPOVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGY PAPERSPREGNANT WOMENPREVALENCE OF MALNUTRITIONPRIMARY EDUCATIONPRODUCTIVITYPROGRESSPROTEINPROTEIN-ENERGY MALNUTRITIONPUBLIC AWARENESSPUBLIC POLICYQUALITY CONTROLRELIGIOUS LEADERSREPRODUCTIVE HEALTHSAFETY NETSSALT IODIZATIONSERVICE DELIVERYSOCIAL ACTIONSOCIAL PROTECTIONSOCIAL WELFARESUB-SAHARAN AFRICASUPPLEMENTARY FEEDINGTECHNICAL ASSISTANCEUNDERNUTRITIONVITAMINVITAMIN AVULNERABLE GROUPSVULNERABLE POPULATIONSWATER SUPPLYWELFARE EXPENDITURESWOMANWORKERSYOUNG CHILDRENYOUTH CLUBSGood Work--But Not Enough of It : A Review of the World Bank's Experience in NutritionWorld Bank10.1596/13738