World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

Poor nutrition in the first 1,000 days of life – from the womb to two years of age – can lead to irreversible damage to children’s minds and bodies. The World Food Programme in Asia is targeting its food assistance to make sure that children and adults get the right food, at the right time, in the right place.

Under-nutrition is a major public health and economic challenge in Bangladesh. WFP is working with the government to improve the nutrition status of women and children. Efforts are focused on the first 1000 days of life, when under-nutrition can lead to irreversible damage to bodies and minds. 

The WFP Bangladesh Nutrition Strategy outlines a case for investing in nutrition for the next generation. This publication aims to support the Government of Bangladesh to reduce maternal and child undernutrition and contribute to breaking the intergenerational cycle of undernutrition. It builds on WFP’s Bangladesh Country Strategy which highlights nutrition as a core focus and cross cutting issue, incorporating evidence-based nutrition interventions, as well as integrating nutrition goals into broader efforts in critical sectors.

 This is the fifth and final evaluation in the series of impact evaluations of WFP school feeding.Impacts of WFP’s micronutrient fortified biscuit programme were seen in several areas including attendance and drop-out rates and transition to secondary school of children from the most vulnerable households.

The micronutrient fortified biscuits make substantial contributions to improving the nutrition of participating children and provide a value transfer to vulnerable households. The evaluation recommends areas for improvement including strategic positioning in the educational system, increasing micronutrient content and expanding coverage.

This report analyses the impact of the 2007-2008 high food prices in Bangladesh, with a focus on household food security and nutrition. The assessment and resulting study was jointly undertaken by WFP, UNICEF, and the Government of Bangladesh’s Institute of Public Health and Nutrition (IPHN). Over 10,000 households were interviewed, in a nation-wide statistically representative survey. In addition to assessment findings, the report offers numerous policy and programming recommendations for those involved in either planning or implementing food security and nutrition interventions.

The core focus of the study is on consumption and calorie-food intake with the objective of determining calorie-nutrient needs of a dynamically changing population in the context of rapid growth. A key objective of this study was to estimate these requirements in a methodologically sound manner to derive nutritional standards for a diverse and rapidly urbanizing population.
This study was commissioned by the UN World Food Programme (WFP), with financial support from the U.K. Department for International Development (DFID) through the Partnership Agreement in Bangladesh. The views and opinions contained in the report are those of the authors and are not necessarily shared by DFID or WFP.