Landscape of official development assistance for nutrition data and information systems.

Nutrition data and information systems (ND&IS) are critical to guide the prioritisation, collection, analysis and dissemination of nutrition data in countries. However, there is limited guidance for countries regarding how to invest in their ND&IS and little is known about current financing allocations by both countries and donors. This hinders our ability to identify the most critical funding gaps and to effectively advocate for increased financial commitments to ND&IS. To better characterise donor investments, we conducted a review of Official Development Assistance (ODA) financing for ND&IS between the years 2017 and 2019. The analysis showed overall donor financing for ND&IS is not trending up between 2017 and 2019 with the majority of funding being channelled through multilateral organisations to the health sector and spent on global initiatives and emergency early warning system and surveillance activities. Given these findings, donors should dedicate at least 5% (4%-6%) of nutrition investments, alongside country governments, to support country capacity building and strengthening of ND&IS. Donors should also consider channelling a larger part of ODA for ND&IS activities through public institutions to build their capacity to manage ND&IS strengthening.

How are countries planning for costs of nutrition data and information systems?

Background: The first Global Nutrition Report in 2014 called for a "data revolution" in nutrition, so that countries have the latest data to set priorities and monitor progress. Integral to this revolution is understanding how countries are investing in the data, systems and capacity required to support decision-making around nutrition, i.e. their nutrition data and information system (NDIS). Methods: For this reason, our team conducted a desk review of national nutrition plans for 58 Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) countries to better understand how countries are planning for and estimating the costs of their NDIS. Results: We found that of the SUN national nutrition plans that are publicly accessible, not all are costed and less than half of these have explicit data and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) sections. Of the 19 national plans that had costed data and M&E sections, our initial estimates show costs for data systems ranged from 0.1%-12.8% of total plan costs with limited information on data system components. Conclusions: There is an imminent need for more comprehensive and strategic approaches - including the planning for and financing of - NDIS in countries.

Healthcare Systems Strengthening in Smaller Cities in Bangladesh: Geospatial Insights From the Municipality of Dinajpur.

Throughout South Asia a proliferation of cities and middle-sized towns is occurring. While larger cities tend to receive greater attention in terms national level investments, opportunities for healthy urban development abound in smaller cities, and at a moment where positive trajectories can be established. In Bangladesh, municipalities are growing in size and tripled in number especially district capitals. However, little is known about the configuration of health services to hold these systems accountable to public health goals of equity, quality, and affordability. This descriptive quantitative study uses data from a GIS-based census and survey of health facilities to identify gaps and inequities in services that need to be addressed. Findings reveal a massive private sector and a worrisome lack of primary and some critical care services. The study also reveals the value of engaging municipal-level decision makers in mapping activities and analyses to enable responsive and efficient healthcare planning.