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).