Number 20, November 2012
briefing paper
Todd Post/Bread for the World
Implementing Nutrition-Sensitive
Development: Reaching Consensus
by Noreen Mucha, M.P.A.
Key Points
• In addition to nutrition-specific interventions, experts agree that reducing
maternal and child undernutrition will require nutrition-sensitive1 actions
that take place in the context of multi-sectoral programs in agriculture,
health, education, and social protection.
• Currently, there are varying definitions of nutrition-sensitive development.
• A common definition and measurement methods will facilitate nutrition
investments, help coordinate efforts, and gather evidence on how best to
improve nutrition through existing pathways.
• In designing nutrition-sensitive programs, it is important to specify
nutrition objectives and to recognize that nutrition-specific actions may
also be necessary to achieve nutrition objectives.
• A normative global body should undertake the task of building consensus
around a definition and progress indicators for nutrition-sensitive
development.
Bread for the World Institute provides policy
analysis on hunger and strategies to end it.
The Institute educates opinion leaders, policy
makers, and the public about hunger in the
United States and abroad.
www.bread.org
Abstract
The Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement is an unprecedented, multi-stakeholder global effort to improve maternal and child nutrition. Both the 2008
Lancet Series on Maternal and Child
Undernutrition and SUN Framework
for Action underscore the importance
of both nutrition-specific and nutritionsensitive interventions. Thanks to a
large evidence base, nutrition-specific
interventions are well-defined. They
include treating acute malnutrition,
increasing micronutrient intake, and
promoting exclusive breastfeeding,
addressing the immediate causes of
undernutrition. Nutrition-sensitive development addresses the underlying
factors that contribute to malnutrition—including hunger, poverty, gender
inequality, and poor access to safe water and health services—by integrating
nutrition actions into other sectors.2
Unlike nutrition-specific interventions,
nutrition-sensitive development lacks a
common definition, which is needed for
aligning efforts and measuring impact.
More research and documentation of
proven approaches to integrating nutrition-sensitive actions into multisectoral
programs will build the evidence base.
This policy brief seeks to contribute to
a wider conversation that we hope will
lead to some consensus.