Countries where Optima Nutrition has been applied

Optima Nutrition has been applied to countries in Asia, the Pacific, and Africa to address national and sub-national policy and programming questions.

Bangladesh case study

An Optima Nutrition application in Bangladesh was conducted to determine how resources should be allocated across a mix of nutrition interventions and by geographical regions for different funding levels. The study considered funding allocations across seven geographical regions of Bangladesh, as well as six interventions:

• Breastfeeding promotion;
• Public provision of complementary foods;
• Balanced energy-protein supplementation;
• Vitamin A supplementation;
• Complementary feeding education; and
• Antenatal micronutrient supplementation.

We found that

• Optimizing current financing allocation could reduce the number of stunted children by 1.4 million as compared to current allocation.
• Optimizing an additional $10m could result in a further 1 million cases of stunting averted.
• Priority programs should be complementary feeding (and breastfeeding) education and young child feeding package.
• Priority areas for coverage expansion are Dhaka and Chittagong (60% of the additional financing allocated to those two regions).