Reducing Child Undernutrition: Past Drivers and Priorities for the Post-MDG Era

Working to update their previous IFPRI work, “Explaining Child Malnutrition in Developing Countries” (2000), Lisa Smith and Lawrence Haddad draw on data from 1970-2012 across 116 countries to get at the basic question: what drives undernutrition? After examining both basic and underlying determinants of undernutrition, they find important factors include WASH, women’s education & empowerment, quantity & quality of food, income growth, and governance. They also conclude with the importance of occasional “big picture” views of global nutrition, using an expanding evidence base outside of randomized trials to determine key action points.