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- Prevention More Effective than Treatment
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- Promoting Seed-Sector Reform in Mali
- Lessons to Be Learned from the Dragon and the Elephant
- Interview with R. K. Pachauri, Director General of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), New Delhi, and Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
- Commentary: Reinvigorating Africa's Agricultural Sector
- Insert: 18th Annual Martin J. Forman Memorial Lecture
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IFPRI ForumWhen it comes to child malnutrition, early intervention is crucial. Two studies conducted by IFPRI researchers and published in the leading medical journal The Lancet have made clear that preventing malnutrition is much more effective than treating it and that action must be taken in the first two years of a child's life to avoid lifelong repercussions.
The first study, conducted in Haiti, found that the rates of child stunting, underweight, and wasting were lower among poor communities participating in programs to prevent malnutrition rather than treat it. "Malnutrition must be addressed in the first two years of life, the crucial period for a child's physical and cognitive development," said Marie Ruel, lead author of The Lancet article and director of IFPRI's Food Consumption and Nutrition Division. "If nutrition programs wait until children have already become malnourished, their benefits are significantly diminished."
The study—conducted by IFPRI and Cornell University in conjunction with World Vision-Haiti and the U.S. Agency for International Development—indicated that it is essential for food-assisted maternal and child health and nutrition programs to proactively target all children under the age of two in poor communities. "Common sense tells us that preventing malnutrition is better than treating it, especially because children can suffer irreparable harm if undernourished during the first two years of life," said Ruel.
The harm is not only physical, but economic as well. By analyzing the significant economic benefits accruing to Guatemalan adults who received adequate nourishment as children, the second IFPRI-led study published in The Lancet highlights some of the lifelong, negative impacts on those who did not. It, too, stresses the importance of action during the first two years of a child's life. Specifically, the study found that boys who received a nutritional supplement in the first two years of life earned on average 46 percent higher wages as adults, while boys who received it in their first three years earned 37 percent higher wages on average. Those who first received the supplement after age three did not gain any economic benefits as adults.
This study is the first to present direct evidence of the effects of early childhood nutrition programs on adult economic productivity and incomes. The research was conducted in Guatemala by IFPRI, Emory University, the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama, the University of Pennsylvania, and Middlebury College.