USAID: Nutrition Policy Paper

USAID Policy Paper: Nutrition

May 1982

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Executive Summary
I. Introduction
II. Objective of the Nutrition Policy and its Accomplishment
III. Elements of the Policy
Conclusions
Selected Bibliography
Wednesday, 18-Jun-2003 21:25:32 EDT

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I. Introduction
Sound nutrition policies are essential to the overall development efforts of LDCs. One of the messages that the U.S. carried to the Cancun Summit (in October 1981) was that "increasing food production in developing countries is critically important--for some, literally a matter of life or death. It is also an indispensable basis for overall development." Despite enormous strides in agricultural technology in the last decade, however, people are still dying from starvation and extreme malnutrition¹. Hundreds of millions are not getting enough to eat--thus rendering them vulnerable to disease and disability, and unable to work or learn to their full potential. If, as the U.S. emphasized at the UN General Assembly in September, 1981, "the individual is the beginning, the key element, and the ultimate beneficiary of the development process," then one of the first goals of development efforts must be to overcome the obstacles that stand in the way of individual initiative and potential. This paper examines a variety of policy initiatives that the U.S., other donors, and LDCs themselves can adopt to maximize the impact of development programs on nutritional status of citizens of the developing world.
U.S. foreign aid is based on a commitment to broad based economic growth in developing countries through "alleviation of the worst physical manifestations of poverty among the world's poor majority" including "starvation, hunger, and malnutrition" (Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, Chapter 1, Sections 101 and 103). Improving nutrition is vital to the overall goal of strengthening the economies of developing countries.
Nutritional well-being is a necessary and crucial input in the development process. Undernutrition--insufficient consumption, absorption, and biological utilization of food--can result in starvation and death in extreme circumstances, but is usually disguised as low stature and weight, low worker productivity, poor school performance, poor reproductive performance, or lethargy.
Undernourished adults have lower stamina, productivity, and attentiveness. They are sick more often and more seriously than well-nourished adults. Undernourished women give birth to smaller, less robust babies than well-nourished women. Low birthweight babies are at high risk of death before the age of one year. Undernourished infants have low disease resistance which may cause them to die from what would be minor diseases under better circumstances (measles case mortality in Guatemala in 1976, for instance, was 268 times that in the U.S.). Diarrhea and intestinal parasites (the most prevalent cause of illness in LDCs) are exacerbated by and in turn aggravate poor nutritional status of the child since the ability to absorb and effectively utilize nutrients is sharply reduced under these conditions.
Undernourished children have stunted mental and physical development that may later compromise school performance, physical capacity, and economic productivity. Undernourished households are less productive because of disease, human energy shortage, time losses to sickness and inefficiency, and loss of human life (high pregnancy losses and matemal mortality, high infant and child mortality, low life expectancy) Undernourished individuals, communities, and societies fall far short of their creative, physical and economical potentials because of losses to poor nutrition: health and education expenditures are wasted because many of the recipients of these services never reach productive age; human spirits are constrained by enervation; opportunities for national development are foregone because of undeveloped human capital; and internal security is fragile as a result of frustration or dissatisfaction with the inadequacy of one of the basic necessitates of life: food.
Better nutrition is also an essential output of economic development. Unless health, life expectancy, and vitality are improved as a result of economic growth, development has not achieved its true objectives. In the long run, USAID's assistance to developing countries should be reflected in improved nutritional status. This will not come about automatically, however. It will require a conscious effort to include nutrition as a basis for resource allocation in strategies, programs and projects.
Number of people (millions) and share of population with calorie intakes below 90% FAO/ WHO requirements in selected countries by region, 1973

Millions of
People with
Calorie
Deficient Diets As A Percent
of Regional
Population As A
Percent of Total
Calorie Deficient

LAC 92 37% 15%

Asia 448 49% 75%

NE 34 33% 6%

Africa 25 53% 4%

599 46%

SOURCE: Reutlinger and Alderman. The Prevalence of Calorie-Deficient Diets in Developing Countries. World Development 8:406, 1980.

¹Nutrition surveillance involves collection and analysis of data on food consumption and nutritional status on a regular basis. The current work being carried out at Cornell University through the Office of Nutrition is a good example of pioneering efforts in tracking nutrition surveillance efforts and promoting the functional classification of malnutrition.
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Last Updated on: June 18, 2003