IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/hnpdps/94029.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Nutrition in Bhutan: Situational Analysis and Policy Recommendations

Author

Listed:
  • Stephen J Atwood
  • Somil Nagpal
  • Nkosinathi V Mbuya
  • Luc Laviolette

Abstract

As Bhutan has progressed financially, its health indicators have also progressed. It has achieved significant gains in all the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Yet two major indicators of significant undernutrition remain persistently elevated: stunting of children younger than 5, and anemia in women and children. Some factors can be interpreted as direct or nutrition-specific determinants of undernutrition in Bhutan, among them diarrheal diseases, high parasite loads in parts of the country, and a very high prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infections. Other, more indirect, factors can be considered nutrition-sensitive, such as diseases related to environmental and personal hygiene. The most important causes of stunting are indirect and nutrition-sensitive: poor nutrition and care of women before and during pregnancy as reflected in the profound female anemia rates. Beyond factors that directly impact on the nutrition of women and children are other issues specific to Bhutan: many villages and settlements are inaccessible, some at altitudes that strongly influence crop selection and production; a dependency on imported foods makes the country vulnerable to price fluctuations; ethnic and other cultural variables influence access to services and alter feeding practices; urban migration is further impinging on a decreasing agrarian work force; communities are not aware of the nutrition problems of stunting and anemia and have no understanding of their causes, their significance, and what could be done t remediate them; and there are few people knowledgeable about public nutrition who have the skills needed to educate and motivate changes in community behavior. The report conclusions highlight four major public nutrition problem areas, and to focus government actions, suggests five priorities from the sector-specific recommendations because they are considered most feasible and would lead to immediate gains in reducing undernutrition gains that could then draw attention and support to the problem of undernutrition in Bhutan

Suggested Citation

  • Stephen J Atwood & Somil Nagpal & Nkosinathi V Mbuya & Luc Laviolette, 2014. "Nutrition in Bhutan: Situational Analysis and Policy Recommendations," Health, Nutrition and Population (HNP) Discussion Paper Series 94029, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:hnpdps:94029
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2015/02/03/000406484_20150203121251/Rendered/PDF/940290BRI00PUB0tion0in0Bhutan0FINAL.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Harold Alderman & John Hoddinott & Bill Kinsey, 2006. "Long term consequences of early childhood malnutrition," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 58(3), pages 450-474, July.
    2. Popkin, Barry M., 1999. "Urbanization, Lifestyle Changes and the Nutrition Transition," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(11), pages 1905-1916, November.
    3. Yount, Kathryn M. & DiGirolamo, Ann M. & Ramakrishnan, Usha, 2011. "Impacts of domestic violence on child growth and nutrition: A conceptual review of the pathways of influence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(9), pages 1534-1554, May.
    4. Dean Spears, 2012. "How much international variation in child height can sanitation explain?," Working Papers 1438, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Health and Wellbeing..
    5. Dean Spears, 2012. "How much international variation in child height can sanitation explain?," Working Papers 1436, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Research Program in Development Studies..
    6. Dean Spears, 2012. "How much international variation in child height can sanitation explain?," Working Papers 1438, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Health and Wellbeing..
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Feuerbacher, Arndt & McDonald, Scott & Dukpa, Chencho & Grethe, Harald, 2020. "Seasonal rural labor markets and their relevance to policy analyses in developing countries," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    2. Anne Provo & Steve Atwood & Eileen Brainne Sullivan & Nkosinathi Mbuya, 2017. "Malnutrition in Timor-Leste," World Bank Publications - Reports 26394, The World Bank Group.
    3. Feuerbacher, Arndt & Luckmann, Jonas & Boysen, Ole & Zikeli, Sabine & Grethe, Harald, 2016. "The 100% Organic Agriculture Policy in Bhutan – A gift or a curse?," Conference papers 332674, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    4. Pradeep Rai & Yadunath Bajgai & Jimba Rabgyal & Tirtha Bdr Katwal & Anthony Ryan Delmond, 2022. "Empirical Evidence of the Livelihood Vulnerability to Climate Change Impacts: A Case of Potato-Based Mountain Farming Systems in Bhutan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-27, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Laura B. Nolan, 2016. "Rural–Urban Child Height for Age Trajectories and Their Heterogeneous Determinants in Four Developing Countries," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 35(5), pages 599-629, October.
    2. Lawson, Nicholas & Spears, Dean, 2016. "What doesn't kill you makes you poorer: Adult wages and early-life mortality in India," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 1-16.
    3. World Bank Group, 2015. "Rwanda Poverty Assessment," World Bank Publications - Reports 22970, The World Bank Group.
    4. Diane Coffey & Ashwini Deshpande & Jeffrey Hammer & Dean Spears, 2019. "Local Social Inequality, Economic Inequality, and Disparities in Child Height in India," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(4), pages 1427-1452, August.
    5. Derek Headey & David Stifel & Liangzhi You & Zhe Guo, 2018. "Remoteness, urbanization, and child nutrition in sub‐Saharan Africa," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 49(6), pages 765-775, November.
    6. Lara Cockx & Nathalie Francken, 2016. "Evolution and impact of EU aid for food and nutrition security: a review," Working Papers of LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance 572519, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance.
    7. Evan Borkum & Dana Rotz & Anu Rangarajan & Swetha Sridharan & Sukhmani Sethi & Mercy Manoranjini & Lakshmi Ramakrishnan & Lalit Dandona & Rakhi Dandona & Priyanka S. Kochar & G. Anil Kumar & Priyanka , "undated". "Midline Findings from the Evaluation of the Ananya Program in Bihar," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 74ef56ababd9412b82ef906fc, Mathematica Policy Research.
    8. Simone Passarelli & Dawit Mekonnen & Elizabeth Bryan & Claudia Ringler, 2018. "Evaluating the pathways from small-scale irrigation to dietary diversity: evidence from Ethiopia and Tanzania," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(4), pages 981-997, August.
    9. Indunil De Silva & Sudarno Sumarto, 2018. "Child Malnutrition in Indonesia: Can Education, Sanitation and Healthcare Augment the Role of Income?," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(5), pages 837-864, July.
    10. Headey, Derek & Hoddinott, John & Ali, Disha & Tesfaye, Roman & Dereje, Mekdim, 2015. "The Other Asian Enigma: Explaining the Rapid Reduction of Undernutrition in Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 749-761.
    11. Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab & Guiteras, Raymond P. & Levinsohn, James & Mobarak, Ahmed Mushfiq, 2023. "Social and financial incentives for overcoming a collective action problem," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    12. Daniel A. Mekonnen & Laura Trijsburg & Thom Achterbosch & Inge D. Brouwer & Gina Kennedy & Vincent Linderhof & Ruerd Ruben & Elise F. Talsma, 2021. "Food consumption patterns, nutrient adequacy, and the food systems in Nigeria," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 9(1), pages 1-21, December.
    13. Headey, Derek D. & Hoddinott, John F., 2014. "Understanding the rapid reduction of undernutrition in Nepal, 2001-2011," IFPRI discussion papers 1384, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    14. YuJung Julia Lee & Tiffany Radcliff, 2021. "Community interactions and sanitation use by the urban poor: Survey evidence from India’s slums," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(4), pages 715-732, March.
    15. Payal Hathi & Sabrina Haque & Lovey Pant & Diane Coffey & Dean Spears, 2017. "Place and Child Health: The Interaction of Population Density and Sanitation in Developing Countries," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(1), pages 337-360, February.
    16. Dean Spears & Arabinda Ghosh & Oliver Cumming, 2013. "Open Defecation and Childhood Stunting in India: An Ecological Analysis of New Data from 112 Districts," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(9), pages 1-1, September.
    17. Cameron, Lisa & Chase, Claire & Haque, Sabrina & Joseph, George & Pinto, Rebekah & Wang, Qiao, 2021. "Childhood stunting and cognitive effects of water and sanitation in Indonesia," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 40(C).
    18. Hammer, Jeffrey & Spears, Dean, 2013. "Village sanitation and children's human capital : evidence from a randomized experiment by the Maharashtra government," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6580, The World Bank.
    19. Spears, Dean & Lamba, Sneha, 2013. "Effects of early-life exposure to sanitation on childhood cognitive skills : evidence from India's total sanitation campaign," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6659, The World Bank.
    20. Matthias Rieger & Sofia Karina Trommlerová, 2016. "Age-Specific Correlates of Child Growth," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(1), pages 241-267, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wbk:hnpdps:94029. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Erika L. Yanick The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask Erika L. Yanick to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dvewbus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.