Public-Private Partnerships and Undernutrition: Examples and Future Prospects.

In this chapter, we clarify what is meant by public-private partnerships (PPPs), provide examples of both successful and less successful PPPs and describe some broad lessons. We see scope for PPPs that would reduce aspects of undernutrition. However, this optimism comes with significant caveats. First, while there would appear to be a large body of evidence on this topic, closer examination shows that there are few independent, rigorous assessments of the impact of commercial sector engagement in nutrition. Considerable caution is therefore warranted when assessing either commendations or criticisms of PPPs in nutrition. Second, progress in this area requires that the private sector recognize that past and current actions by some firms have created an environment of mistrust and that the public sector accept that sustainable PPPs permit private firms to generate profits. Progress also requires recognition that PPPs involving multiple firms can be problematic either because such partnerships force competitors to collaborate or because they create the potential for the involved firms to lock out firms that are not members of the partnership. Lest this all sound too negative, from a nutrition perspective, we note that there may be significant scope for the involvement of the private sector in driving innovations that could reduce undernutrition. More speculatively, there may also be scope for the private sector to act as a financier of investments to improve children's nutritional status. For PPPs to succeed, there must be open discussions of the objectives, roles and expectations of all parties along with potential conflicts of interest.

Agriculture and Nutrition in Bangladesh: Mapping Evidence to Pathways.

BACKGROUND: Although much work has been done on the theoretical links between agriculture and nutrition, there is limited understanding of the evidence from observational and experimental research studies on the impacts of agriculture programs on nutrition outcomes. OBJECTIVE: To assess the emphasis of the literature on different agriculture-nutrition pathways in Bangladesh. METHODS: Twenty databases and Web sites were searched, yielding more than 2400 resources that were pared down through an iterative, eliminative process to 60 articles. These articles were then rated for quality and mapped to 1 of the 6 agriculture-nutrition pathways. RESULTS: The body of evidence reveals gaps in knowledge in all of the pathways, but especially in the areas of agriculture as a source of livelihoods, and women's role as intermediaries between agriculture and good nutrition and health within their household. CONCLUSION: More research is needed on the links between agriculture and nutrition in country-specific settings, particularly as regards the role of women. Nutrition-related outcomes, such as dietary diversity and women's empowerment, need to be measured more explicitly when evaluating the impact of agricultural production systems and development initiatives.

Agriculture and nutrition in India: mapping evidence to pathways.

In India, progress against undernutrition has been slow. Given its importance for income generation, improving diets, care practices, and maternal health, the agriculture sector is widely regarded as playing an important role in accelerating the reduction in undernutrition. This paper comprehensively maps existing evidence along agriculture-nutrition pathways in India and assesses both the quality and coverage of the existing literature. We present a conceptual framework delineating six key pathways between agriculture and nutrition. Three pathways pertain to the nutritional impacts of farm production, farm incomes, and food prices. The other three pertain to agriculture-gender linkages. After an extensive search, we found 78 research papers that provided evidence to populate these pathways. The literature suggests that Indian agriculture has a range of important influences on nutrition. Agriculture seems to influence diets even when controlling for income, and relative food prices could partly explain observed dietary changes in recent decades. The evidence on agriculture-gender linkages to nutrition is relatively weak. Sizeable knowledge gaps remain. The root causes of these gaps include an interdisciplinary disconnect between nutrition and economics/agriculture, a related problem of inadequate survey data, and limited policy-driven experimentation. Closing these gaps is essential to strengthening the agriculture sector's contribution to reducing undernutrition.