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Assessing the Affordability of Nutrient-Adequate Diets

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  • Schneider,Kate
  • Christiaensen,Luc
  • Webb,Patrick J.
  • Masters,William Alan

Abstract

The affordability of nutritious diets is increasingly used as a metric of how well a food systemprovides access to nutritious diets for all. Recent work on least-cost diets has focused on individuals, while most foodand anti-poverty programs and policies target the household level. Members within households have differing nutritionalneeds, presenting the methodological question: how should the cost of nutritious diets be estimated at the householdlevel This study develops bounds on the cost, affordability, and seasonal variation of least-cost diets for wholehouseholds, illustrated with the example of Malawi. When intrahousehold sharing is not possible to observe, thebounded approach provides insights into the range of the cost and affordability, and the extent to which the cost mayvary seasonally. The results reveal that when meals are shared, ignoring demographic diversity within householdsgreatly underestimates the affordability of adequate diets.

Suggested Citation

  • Schneider,Kate & Christiaensen,Luc & Webb,Patrick J. & Masters,William Alan, 2021. "Assessing the Affordability of Nutrient-Adequate Diets," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9834, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9834
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