Towards a Multi-Dimensional Index of Child Growth to Combat the Double Burden of Malnutrition

Hinke Haisma; Gretel Pelto; Sridhar Venkatapuram; Sepideh Yousefzadeh; Lybrich Kramer; Paul Anand

doi:10.1159/000503670

Towards a Multi-Dimensional Index of Child Growth to Combat the Double Burden of Malnutrition

Hinke Haisma^*, Gretel Pelto, Sridhar Venkatapuram, Sepideh Yousefzadeh, Lybrich Kramer, Paul Anand

^*Corresponding author for this work

Global Health Institute

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background: There is growing awareness in the field of public health that combatting the double burden of malnutrition requires approaches that address its multi-dimensional origin, rather than focusing primarily on the biomedical domain. Current frameworks of malnutrition like the UNICEF conceptual framework, and the Lancet Series 2013 framework have been instrumental in understanding the determinants of malnutrition and developing appropriate interventions. However, these frameworks fail to explicitly address issues of agency, that is, about being able to pursue one's goal. The capability approach as originally developed by Amartya Sen includes agency in the causal chain. Summary and key Messages: In the past 5 years, the International Union of Nutritional Sciences Task Force "Towards a multi-dimensional index for child growth and development" has developed a capability framework for child growth, and conducted empirical research applying this framework. The working group discussed what would be needed to further develop the approach and explained the added value to international organisations and policy makers. We suggest developing an index of advantage that will be a proxy for a child's agency. We hypothesise that such an index will explain much of the variance in studying inequalities in child nutrition and thus call for action to improve this focal point.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	123-126
Number of pages	4
Journal	Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism
Volume	75
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1159/000503670
Publication status	Published - 1 Dec 2019

Keywords

Capability approach
Child growth
Double burden of malnutrition
Multi-dimensional

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1159/000503670

Cite this

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AU - Venkatapuram, Sridhar

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AU - Kramer, Lybrich

AU - Anand, Paul

PY - 2019/12/1

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N2 - Background: There is growing awareness in the field of public health that combatting the double burden of malnutrition requires approaches that address its multi-dimensional origin, rather than focusing primarily on the biomedical domain. Current frameworks of malnutrition like the UNICEF conceptual framework, and the Lancet Series 2013 framework have been instrumental in understanding the determinants of malnutrition and developing appropriate interventions. However, these frameworks fail to explicitly address issues of agency, that is, about being able to pursue one's goal. The capability approach as originally developed by Amartya Sen includes agency in the causal chain. Summary and key Messages: In the past 5 years, the International Union of Nutritional Sciences Task Force "Towards a multi-dimensional index for child growth and development" has developed a capability framework for child growth, and conducted empirical research applying this framework. The working group discussed what would be needed to further develop the approach and explained the added value to international organisations and policy makers. We suggest developing an index of advantage that will be a proxy for a child's agency. We hypothesise that such an index will explain much of the variance in studying inequalities in child nutrition and thus call for action to improve this focal point.

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Towards a Multi-Dimensional Index of Child Growth to Combat the Double Burden of Malnutrition

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

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