Copenhagen Consensus: hunger and malnutrition

This paper examines the economic aspects of chronic hunger and malnutrition arguing that better nutrition can both reduce the economic drain on poor societies and help them become wealthier by increasing individuals' productivity.The paper begins be reviewing the scale and nature of the problem, for example by examining the numbers of people being affected as well as the socio-economic breakdown of malnutrition. It then identifies the potential economic benefits of reducing the incidence of malnutrition which include: increases in average life expectancy at birth resulting in higher economic growth per year decreases in the drain on healthcare services from diseases that flow from malnutrition increases in earning power as physical productivity increases from reductions in chronic hunger higher lifetime earnings as decreases in childhood malnutrition lead to increases in schooling. The paper suggests four opportunity areas for reducing malnutrition if resources are used effectively: reducing the prevalence of Low Birth Weight - considering a number of different benefits to increases in the proportion of babies of normal birth weight, the paper estimates that the current value of actions which would result in one birth of a normal weight baby who would otherwise be LBW is 580 American dollars. A number of interventions have been shown to decrease the incidence of LBW at a cost which is far below this estimated value of the benefit received, which means that such initiatives are readily justifiable infant and child nutrition and exclusive breastfeeding promotion - promoting breastfeeding in communities where incomes are low and food and water supplies are often contaminated can have significant benefits for childhood development and lifetime productivity. The gains are supplementary to those of the first opportunity and of a similar magnitude. Costs of effective programmes in place already make such actions easily justifiable in economic terms reducing the prevalence of iron deficiency anaemia and vitamin A, iodine and zinc deficiencies - although dietary actions are complex, there are a number of cost effective ways of improving nutrition. One example would be by supplying iron cooking pots investment in technology in developing country agriculture - investment in agricultural technologies is the single most effective means of increasing the incomes of those groups in the developing world who suffer from chronic hunger. This opportunity therefore focuses on developing improved seed varieties and agricultural practices which can enable people to grow higher and more consistent yields of more nutritious food. This is not just a case of subsistence farmers growing more to eat; rather it is a question of more productive farming which gives farmers a better return on their investment, increases demand for the labour of landless people, and reduces the price of food to make it more accessible to both rural and urban populations. Women's education and status, infectious diseases such as malaria and the HIV/AIDS pandemic, infrastructure, water and sanitation, and trade barriers are some other areas that the paper briefly considers.The paper concludes that while contributing to the welfare of the world's poorest people, which can be regarded as a good in itself, there is clear evidence that all of these approaches are also economically justified in the sense that the projected benefits outweigh the costs. [adapted from author]