Nutrition stands out as an important concern with far-reaching implications for well-being and social progress. Proper nutrition is essential to overall health and well-being. Focusing on a child's nutrition during the first few years of life is critical for proper brain development and cognitive function, and has a long-term impact on the person's performance and lifelong outcomes.
According to the Global Food Security and Nutrition Status Report 2023, the prevalence of undernourishment among India's population decreased from 21.4% in 2004-2006 to 16.6% in 2020-2022. However, a significant number of nutritional deficiencies still exist in India. Those who bear the greatest burden are young children, pregnant women, and nursing mothers. This is also proven in the latest National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-21), which found that 89% of children in their formative years (6-23 months) are productive and healthy children. It turned out that they were not receiving the minimum amount of food necessary to survive the ages. .
Malnutrition, in the form of both undernutrition and overnutrition, is a global challenge. Solving a challenge of this magnitude requires treating malnutrition as both an economic and a human problem. Consider that malnutrition can lead to child mortality and morbidity, and therefore lower labor productivity in the workforce and in children who may work in the future. It can also put a strain on current health systems and increase the burden of investing in future health services.
The World Bank estimates that all forms of malnutrition cost the global economy $3.5 trillion annually. On the other hand, for every $1 he invests in nutrition, he gets a return of $16. As mentioned in the Copenhagen Consensus, interventions designed to address micronutrient deficiencies and other aspects of hunger and malnutrition are some of the best investments in benefits and costs. To tackle malnutrition, governments and other stakeholders need to ensure access to safe, adequate and nutritious food, policies and focused interventions for vulnerable populations, and consumer behavior towards healthier diets. A multifaceted approach must be taken, including:
With limited financial resources, it is important to make informed decisions about investments in improving population nutrition and prioritize interventions. Stakeholders need to determine which interventions to invest in and the optimal investments needed. Evidence-based economic analysis tools can be used to estimate the health, human capital, and economic costs of current levels of malnutrition.
For example, the Cost of Non-Breastfeeding (CoNB) tool developed by Nutrition International using open access data estimates the health and economic costs of not protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding. For India, the tool estimates that the total economic cost (mortality, morbidity, health system costs) of not breastfeeding for the first six months is $15.8 billion annually. This is approximately 0.52% of the country's gross national income.
Evidence generated through economic analysis can help prioritize budget allocations for specific interventions, assist in prioritizing interventions, and enable decision-making to reallocate resources across interventions. It also helps donors, partners and governments understand the value of interventions, thereby informing and influencing nutrition policy decisions, advocacy and investments made by governments and funding bodies globally and regionally. can be given.
Systematic collection of nutrition data, both at national and subnational levels, must be regular and qualitative to make results more contextual and insightful. Additionally, raising awareness and building the capacity of stakeholders to use these tools is also important.
While India has a very favorable policy environment for strategic nutrition interventions, it is also important to integrate nutrition as a key element across sectoral investment plans to improve their coverage and quality. Scaling up nutrition interventions with adequate funding is essential to achieving the goal of reducing malnutrition. It is important to sensitize policy makers and stakeholders to the cross-cutting dimensions of nutrition and thereby invest in the various root causes of malnutrition.
Nutrition financing can help address the complex challenge of malnutrition by supporting a range of interventions aimed at improving access to nutritious food, promoting healthy behaviors and strengthening health systems. Helpful. In the future, nutrition financing is likely to be shaped by a combination of evolving health priorities, technological advances, and efforts to promote equity and sustainability in nutrition interventions. Informed nutritional behavior not only improves quality of life, but is also an important development goal for nations and is fundamental to the well-being and prosperity of both individuals and nations.
This article was written by Mini Varghese, Country Director, India, and Surabhi Mittal, Economist, Asia, Nutrition International.
