Best buys for Africa: Reduce malnutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa

Fast-track Analysis

Reducing malnutrition in Africa has both intrinsic and instrumental value. Better nourished populations are more economically productive. Children better nourished during the first 1000 days (in utero and the first two years of life) will be more productive as adults, increasing country GDP. Interventions that prevent malnutrition are excellent investments; for the median African country in our sample, the Benefit: Cost Ratio (BCR) for investments that reduce chronic undernutrition in children is 13.6.