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. 2021 Jun:29:100550.
doi: 10.1016/j.gfs.2021.100550.

Modelling the potential cost-effectiveness of food-based programs to reduce malnutrition

Patrick Webb  1   2 , Goodarz Danaei  3 , William A Masters  1 , Katherine L Rosettie  1 , Ashley A Leech  1   4 , Joshua Cohen  1 , Mia Blakstad  3 , Sarah Kranz  1 , Dariush Mozaffarian  1 ; Global Nutrition and Policy Consortium
Affiliations

Modelling the potential cost-effectiveness of food-based programs to reduce malnutrition

Patrick Webb et al. Glob Food Sec. 2021 Jun.

Abstract

Poor quality diets contribute to malnutrition globally, but evidence is weak on the cost-effectiveness of food-based interventions that shift diets. This study assessed 11 candidate interventions developed through Delphi techniques to improve diets in India, Nigeria, and Ethiopia. A Markov simulation model incorporated time, individual-level, nutrition, and policy parameters to estimate health impacts and cost-effectiveness for reducing stunting, anaemia, diarrhea, and mortality in preschool children. At an assumed 80% coverage, interventions considered would potentially save between 0·16 and 3·20 years of life per child. The average cost-effectiveness ratio ranged from US$9 to US$2000 per life year saved. This approach, linking expert knowledge, known costs, and modelling, offers potential for estimating cost-effective investments for better informed policy choice where empirical evidence is limited.

Keywords: Cost-effectiveness; Diets; Food-based interventions; Health; Nutrition.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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