The Significance of

Nutrition Security for

Sustainable Development
Lawrence Haddad
Senior Research Fellow,
International Food Policy research Institute
and
co-Chair of the Global Nutrition Report

Outlin
e
What is malnutrition?
Why should your
country invest in
improving nutrition?
How bad is it in your
country and in SADC?
What you can do about
it

Malnutrition
-

Children do not grow properly

Adults are too thin
People are deficient in vitamins & minerals
Adults are overweight or obese

Caused by
- Interaction of poor diets & unhealthy environments

Why invest in nutrition?

45
%

of all
child
deaths
from
poor
nutritio
n
www.globalnutritionreport.org

Human Brain Development

1000 Days

Original: Thompson, 2001; taken from Grantham-McGregor, 2007

Thompson, R. A., & Nelson, C. A. (2001). Developmental science and the media: Early
6
brain development. American Psychologist, 56(1), 5-15.

The economics is
also convincing

back for every $ invested

in nutrition programmes
www.globalnutritionreport.org

30 year
compound
rate of
interest of
10%

40 low and
middle
income
countries
What are the
returns to
scaling up
nutrition
interventions?
Benefit-Cost
Ratio

16:1

Brazil

Malawi

What happens when

infants are breastfed >
12 months?
Income increases by

What is the cost of

existing stunting?

33%

of annual GDP

Victora et al. 2015

10%

AUC/WFP 2015

DRC, Mali, Nigeria, Togo

What are the returns to scaling up nutrition
specific interventions?
Compound rates of return >

13%

World Bank 2015

IFPRI
2014
What
%

of healthcare expenses go to obesity

treatment?

Brazil: 2%, Europe: 2-4%, USA: 5-20%

Progress on Nutrition Status

in SADC

Some progress on reducing Stunting, but most

SADC countries are off course to meet World
Health Assembly Targets for 2025
Prevalence of under-5 stunting (%)

49
40

23

24

26

28

29

31

33

42

43

43

35

On
course

Off course, some

progress

Off course, no
progress

Not enough data to make

assessment

Some progress on increasing Exclusive Breastfeeding

Rates: half SADC countries on course to meet World
Health Assembly Targets for 2025
73

70

67

64

Exclusive breastfeeding of infants below 6 months (%)

49

48

42

41

41

41

21

20
8

On course

Off course, no
progress

Not enough data to make

assessment

All SADC countries off course to meet World

Health Assembly Targets for 2025 on Anemia
in Women
Anaemia in women of reproductive age (%)

21

23

27

28

Note: all data estimated. 2011

28

28

29

29

On
course

29

32

40
33

Off course

44

45

49

All SADC countries off course to meet World

Health Assembly Targets for 2025 for Adult
Overweight and Obesity
54

41

43

45

48

35

21

22

22

23

26

29

Note: all data estimated. 2014. WHO

31

31

Low &
increasing

High &
increasing

55

Number of SADC countries at various stages of progress against global nutrition targets
Missing data

Off course, little/no

progress

Stunting
children under 5

Off course, some progressOn course, at risk On course

Wasting
children
under 5
Overweight
children
under
5
Anemia

Adult
Diabetes
high blood

women aged
15-49 years
Exclusive
Breastfeeding,
0-6 months
Adult
Overweight +
Obesity (BMI
25)
Adult Obesity
(BMI 30)

10

15
4

5
9

6
15
15
Global Target

What can
Governments
do about it?

1. Show Commitment

Food Security

Low
commitme
nt

HANCI
Index

High
commitme

Nutrition

Global
Nutrition
report
2015, p.

Set Targets for

Nutrition
Improvement
Ambitious targets for
stunting?
High
Namibia

Medium Low
Zambia Tanzania
Zimbab
Global Nutrition Report
2015,
p.31
we

Make public pledges for

nutrition
Which SADC countries are Signatories to the 2013
Nutrition for Growth Compact?

Yes

No

Namibia
Tanzania
Zambia
Zimbabwe
DRC
Malawi

Angola
Botswana
Lesotho
Madagascar
Mauritius
Mozambique
Seychelles
South Africa
Swaziland

Join the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN)

Movement
SADC country a member of
SUN?

Yes

No

Botswana
DRC
Lesotho
Madagascar
Malawi
Mozambique
Namibia
Swaziland
Tanzania
Zambia
Zimbabwe

Angola
Mauritius
Seychelles
South Africa

2. Measure Coverage
of Programmes

Coverage of programs matters.

An example from Odisha, India
100

Pregnancy

0-6 months

6-24 months

90
% of
populati
on
receivin
g

80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

Avula et al., forthcoming

3. Strive for Policy

Coherence

Do you know what your policy

dashboard looks like?
Women's Empowerment
Education
Sanitation
Water
Social Protection
Health
Food

Biggest problem

4. Cash: Invest More in

Nutrition Actions

14
countries in
SUN

Domestic Budget
Allocations to
Nutrition as % of
total
Government
Average of 14
Budget
countries: 1.3%
Madagascar
1.56%
% are
medians

More resources are needed for

nutrition
to meet WHA undernutrition
targets
Government
Donors

Spending on nutrition specific interventions, 2015-2025

R4D and World Bank estimates for stunting

5. Count: Invest in
Data to Monitor
Success

Which SADC countries are missing

the most data on nutrition indicators?
% Missing indicators in the SADC Nutrition Country Profiles
44
30

27

27

22

22

20

19

17

15

14

14

14

11

Calls to Action: 5 Cs

1. Commitment

Strengthen national accountability on nutrition

Make a Nutrition for Growth commitment at
Rio 2016
Join SUN!

2. Coverage

Increase coverage of nutrition programmes &

measure coverage!

3. Coherence

Build alliances between nutrition & other

communities

4. Cash

Find more funding for nutrition action

5. Counting

Thank You