INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTEsustainable solutions for ending hunger and poverty 2.1 The causes of child malnutrition, death, and disability 2.2 Women's status, care for children, and children's birthweights 3.1 Distribution of index of women's relative decisionmaking power 3.2 Distribution of index of societal gender equality 4.1 Percentage of stunted, wasted, and underweight children, by region 4.2 Women's status indexes, by region 4.3 Predicted child nutritional status Z-scores, by indexes of women's status 4.4 Predicted probability of child malnutrition, by indexes of women's status 4.5 Effect of women's relative decisionmaking power on child weight-for-age Z-scores, South Asian countries 4.6 Effect of women's relative decisionmaking power on child weight-for-age Z-scores, Sub-Saharan African countries 4.7 Effect of women's relative decisionmaking power on child weight-for-age Z-scores, Latin American and Caribbean countries 4.8 Effect of societal gender equality on child weight-for-age Z-scores, South Asian countries 4.9 Effect of societal gender equality on child weight-for-age Z-scores, Sub-Saharan African countries 4.10 Effect of societal gender equality on child weight-for-age Z-scores, Latin American and Caribbean countries 5.1 Percentage of nonpregnant women with low and high body mass indexes 5.2 Predicted women's body mass index, by indexes of women's status 5.3 Predicted probability of a woman being malnourished, by indexes of women's status 5.4 Percentage of women who receive any prenatal care and who give birth in a medical facility 5.5 Predicted prenatal care variables, by indexes of women's status vii 5.6 Predicted probability of a woman giving birth in a medical facility, by indexes of women's status 6.1 Predicted breastfeeding variables, by indexes of women's status 6.2 Predicted complementary feeding variables, by indexes of women's status 6.3 Predicted health-seeking variables, by indexes of women's status 6.4 Type of caregiver while woman is working (%) 6.5 Predicted probability of child having an adult caretaker while mother is working, by women's status 7.1 Contribution of level difference in women's status to the child nutritional status gap between South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa: A hypothetical graphical illustration 7.2 Contribution of effect difference in women's status to the child nutritional status gap between South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa: A hypothetical graphical illustration B.1 Predicted probability of a woman having "high" status, by indicators of women's relative decisionmaking power B.2 Predicted probability of a woman having "high" status, by index of woman's relative decisionmaking power C.1 Creation of economic status groups: Destitute, poor, middle, and rich viii FIGURES Foreword Many researchers in the international development field have been startled to note that although child malnutrition is rampant in both Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, it is much more widespread in South Asia. According to other Millennium Development Goal indicators, chi...

In the past 5 years, political discourse about the challenge of undernutrition has increased substantially at national and international levels and has led to stated commitments from many national governments, international organisations, and donors. The Scaling Up Nutrition movement has both driven, and been driven by, this developing momentum. Harmonisation has increased among stakeholders, with regard to their understanding of the main causes of malnutrition and to the various options for addressing it. The main challenges are to enhance and expand the quality and coverage of nutrition-specifi c interventions, and to maximise the nutrition sensitivity of more distal interventions, such as agriculture, social protection, and water and sanitation. But a crucial third level of action exists, which relates to the environments and processes that underpin and shape political and policy processes. We focus on this neglected level. We address several fundamental questions: how can enabling environments and processes be cultivated, sustained, and ultimately translated into results on the ground? How has high-level political momentum been generated? What needs to happen to turn this momentum into results? How can we ensure that high-quality, well-resourced interventions for nutrition are available to those who need them, and that agriculture, social protection, and water and sanitation systems and programmes are proactively reoriented to support nutrition goals? We use a six-cell framework to discuss the ways in which three domains (knowledge and evidence, politics and governance, and capacity and resources) are pivotal to create and sustain political momentum, and to translate momentum into results in high-burden countries.

Objective To assess the effectiveness of agricultural interventions in improving the nutritional status of children in developing countries. Published and unpublished reports (after 1990) in English identified by searching 10 databases (Agris, Econlit, Eldis, IBSS, IDEAS, IFPRI, Jolis, PubMed, Web of Science, and World Bank), websites, previous systematic reviews, and reference lists and by contacting experts. Design Systematic review. Data sourcesStudy selection Included studies assessed effects of agricultural interventions aiming at improving the nutritional status of children (bio-fortification, home gardens, small scale fisheries and aquaculture, dairy development, and animal husbandry and poultry development). Only studies that used a valid counterfactual analysis were included. Before/after studies and participants/non-participants comparisons affected by selection bias were excluded. Data analysisResults were analysed for four intermediate outcomes (programme participation, income, dietary diversity, and micronutrient intake) and one final outcome (prevalence of under-nutrition). Analysis was by summary tables of mean effects and by meta-analysis (for vitamin A absorption). ResultsThe review included 23 studies, mostly evaluating home garden interventions. The studies reviewed did not report participation rates or the characteristics of participants in programmes. The interventions had a positive effect on the production of the agricultural goods promoted, but not on households' total income. The interventions were successful in promoting the consumption of food rich in protein and micronutrients, but the effect on the overall diet of poor people remains unclear. No evidence was found of an effect on the absorption of iron, but some evidence exists of a positive effect on absorption of vitamin A. Very little evidence was found of a positive effect on the prevalence of stunting, wasting, and underweight among children aged under 5. ConclusionsThe question posed by the review cannot be answered with any level of confidence. The data available show a poor effect of these interventions on nutritional status, but methodological weaknesses of the studies cast serious doubts on the validity of these results. More rigorous and better designed studies are needed, as well as the establishment of agreed quality standards to guide researchers in this important area. IntroductionAgricultural interventions have long been thought to have an effect on nutrition. In the past 10-15 years, people have accepted that for agricultural interventions to have a greater chance of affecting nutritional status, they must be implemented with that objective. Examples of interventions with the explicit goal of improving the nutritional status of children include home gardens and the production of bio-fortified crops. Our review assesses the evidence for the effectiveness of this type of intervention. It complements and expands previous reviews of links between agriculture and nutrition. Compared with previous reviews, ours is...

No abstract