“Investing in Nutrition with World Bank Assistance”

(1992) by Joy Miller Del Rosso, World Bank, Washington, D.C. 23 pages.

This booklet - targeted at government managers and staff responsible for, and interested in, addressing malnutrition - describes how and why the World Bank is involved in nutrition programmes. It is split into four sections. The first “Why Invest in Nutrition” discusses the returns gained from investing resources directly in alleviating malnutrition, emphasizing the important contribution of such investment to poverty alleviation in general and economic growth, “Improving nutrition directly addresses some of the worst consequences of being poor. It concretely improves the well-being of populations even when incomes remain low, and it offers the promise of increasing future incomes by boosting productivity. Investment in nutrition can help workers produce more and children learn more in school. Such investment in people is the firmest foundation for economic and social development.” (p.1)

The second section “How Countries are Confronting Malnutrition” gives examples of recent World Bank involvement in projects aimed at improving nutrition directly and immediately through several strategies:

· targeting food transfer programs;

· providing essential nutrition services to those at risk;

· supplying critical micronutrients;

· using a multifaceted approach; and

· building capacity in nutrition programming.

The next section “How the World Bank can Help” describes and explains the resources the World Bank is able to make available - substantially strengthened in recent years - for helping governments interested in strengthening or expanding nutrition activities.

Finally, the last section “What Lessons for the Future” draws on past experience of the World Bank and other donors, host governments, NGOs and communities involved in nutrition projects to provide a set of guidelines on how governments can address malnutrition.

To obtain a copy of the publication or find out more about how World Bank can assist in addressing malnutrition problems please contact: The World Bank, Director, Population, Health & Nutrition Department, 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., 20433, USA.

V.E.