Compact2025 News in Brief: September 12, 2018

To accelerate progress to end hunger and undernutrition around the world, the News in Brief informs partners on emerging research and innovation, developments in global, regional, and national policies and programs, and timely news and events. Please feel free to share any feedback at IFPRI-Compact2025@cgiar.org. Find the latest developments in Compact2025 here.

Accelerating the End of Hunger and Malnutrition Flash Update

The first Flash Update for the global event on Accelerating the End of Hunger and Malnutrition highlights the latest conference developments including video testimonials from key experts, opportunities to contribute to the Acceleration Fair, and the video contest for young filmmakers. Subscribe here to receive future updates.

Building resilience for food security and nutrition

The 2018 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report analyses the drivers of hunger and malnutrition and finds that the absolute number of undernourished people has increased to nearly 821 million in 2017, from around 804 million in 2016. This year’s report stresses that climate extremes and variability are threatening to erode and reverse gains made in ending hunger and malnutrition.

Examining the cost of nutritious food in South Asia

A World Bank policy paper analyzes the affordability of nutritious foods in South Asia: The cost of a nutritious diet is 38 percent higher in Sri Lanka and 15 percent higher in Afghanistan compared to a calorie-based diet that meets basic food needs. The results also indicate that the cost of a nutritious diet varies by cities and for some countries by season.

India: The role of agriculture in women’s nutrition

Agricultural income growth is associated with modest growth in women’s body-mass index (BMI) over the long term in India finds a study from Cornell University. While women’s BMI is associated with an increase in the consumption of own-produced cereals, the market plays an important role in facilitating access to more nutritious foods like pulses.

Transform Nutrition research consortium: Core findings, priorities and future research

A review of the Transform Nutrition research consortium (2012–2017) highlights results including (1) a better understanding of the effectiveness of nutrition-specific interventions; (2) evidence of the need to explicitly link social protection and agriculture to nutrition to reduce stunting; (3) identification of key components of “enabling environments”; (4) research on how leaders emerge and operate to change the political and policy landscape; and (5) “stories of change” documenting how transformative change has been driven in countries to reduce malnutrition.

Household dairy production and child growth in Bangladesh

Household dairy production increases child growth, though in the first year of life household dairy supply is associated with a decline in the rate of breastfeeding finds a study by researchers from the University of London and IFPRI using data from Bangladesh. Increasing access to dairy products can be extremely beneficial to children’s nutrition, but may need to be accompanied by efforts to improve nutritional knowledge and appropriate breastfeeding practices.

Updated State of Acute Malnutrition website

The No Wasted Lives coalition led by Executive Director and Compact2025 Technical Advisory Committee member Nabeeha Kazi recently updated its State of Acute Malnutrition website. It now includes more than 1,800 resources, information on upcoming events and data from the 2016 UNICEF Nutridash, the WHO-World Bank-UNICEF Joint Child Malnutrition Estimates and sub-national monitoring sources.

Strategic alliance to catalyze investments to end hunger and malnutrition

The African Development Bank and FAO have created a strategic alliance to catalyze agriculture sector investments in Africa to end hunger and malnutrition and increase prosperity throughout the continent. The organizations are committed to raise up to $100 million over five years, to support joint partnership activities.

Breaking the silos: Building cross-sector partnerships for nutrition

The Society for Implementation Science in Nutrition will host a webinar on “How to Build Effective Cross-sector Partnerships” on Wednesday, September 19. Two experts will share how partnership principles can be applied to implementation research.

Highlights from this and past Compact2025 News in Briefs, along with other key resources, can be found at the Compact2025 Knowledge & Innovation Hub resources page.

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