Reducing stunting through multisectoral efforts in Sub-Saharan Africa

All Hands on Deck
Reducing Stunting through Multisectoral Efforts in Sub-Saharan Africa

A copublication of the Agence française de développement and the World Bank

The report book lays the groundwork for more effective multisectoral action on reducing stunting by analyzing and generating empirical evidence useful for informing the joint targeting and, if necessary, the sequencing of sector-specific interventions in countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

This report lays the groundwork for more effective multisectoral action on reducing stunting by analyzing and generating empirical evidence useful for informing the joint targeting and, if necessary, the sequencing of sector-specific interventions in countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The analysis in the report offers new insights on how data can be used to inform allocation decisions of different sectors that can strengthen multisectoral efforts aiming to reduce stunting. These insights are derived from widely used surveys such as the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and provide a more holistic view of the multiple deprivations experienced by children with respect to the underlying drivers of nutrition and the prevalence of stunting.

The findings of this regional report are intended to stimulate and provide a blueprint for further analytic work that is operationally useful for the design of more effective multisectoral interventions on stunting at the country level in Sub-Saharan Africa. The main findings of the report are based on data on children pooled across 33 countries, thus reflecting relationships that prevail on average among stunting and access to the drivers of nutrition by children residing in different countries. Pooling data on children across many countries using common definitions and thresholds offers an advantage not only in terms of total sample size but also in that pooling increases the number of observations on children with access to adequate levels to different combinations of nutrition drivers.

The report also provides evidence that increased access to adequate levels of the underlying drivers of nutrition coordinated across different sectors should not be considered in isolation from programs increasing incomes and minimizing income variability in rural areas, both of which are important determinants of household demand for better nutrition.

• All Hands on Deck – Reducing Stunting through Multisectoral Efforts in Sub-Saharan Africa – English 

New report: All hands on deck: Reducing stunting through multi-sectoral efforts in Sub-Saharan Africa. See stunting prevalence by country https://t.co/OPJYAh1mqB pic.twitter.com/KECdJF3M4h

— World Bank Kenya (@WorldBankKenya) July 16, 2019