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The economic costs of a multisectoral nutrition programme implemented through a credit platform in Bangladesh

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Title The economic costs of a multisectoral nutrition programme implemented through a credit platform in Bangladesh
 
Creator Thai, Giang
Margolies, Amy
Gelli, Aulo
Kumar, Neha
Sultana, Nasrin
Choo, Esther
Levin, Carol
 
Subject nutrition
women
children
agricultural programs
economic costs
behaviour changes
agricultural extension
credit
gender
income
impact pathways
expenditures
intervention
households
nutrition counselling
micro-credit programs
low income countries
public health
maternal health
 
Description Bangladesh struggles with undernutrition in women and young children. Nutrition-sensitive agriculture programmes can help address rural undernutrition. However, questions remain on the costs of multisectoral programmes. This study estimates the economic costs of the Targeting and Re-aligning Agriculture to Improve Nutrition (TRAIN) programme, which integrated nutrition behaviour change and agricultural extension with a credit platform to support women's income generation. We used the Strengthening Economic Evaluation for Multisectoral Strategies for Nutrition (SEEMS-Nutrition) approach. The approach aligns costs with a multisectoral nutrition typology, identifying inputs and costs along programme impact pathways. We measure and allocate costs for activities and inputs, combining expenditures and micro-costing. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected retrospectively from implementers and beneficiaries. Expenditure data and economic costs were combined to calculate incremental economic costs. The intervention was designed around a randomised control trial. Incremental costs are presented by treatment arm. The total incremental cost was $795,040.34 for a 3.5-year period. The annual incremental costs per household were US$65.37 (Arm 2), USD$114.15 (Arm 3) and $157.11 (Arm 4). Total costs were led by nutrition counselling (37%), agriculture extension (12%), supervision (12%), training (12%), monitoring and evaluation (9%) and community events (5%). Total input costs were led by personnel (68%), travel (12%) and supplies (7%). This study presents the total incremental costs of an agriculture-nutrition intervention implemented through a microcredit platform. Costs per household compare favourably with similar interventions. Our results illustrate the value of a standardised costing approach for comparison with other multisectoral nutrition interventions.
 
Date 2022-10-08
2023-01-16T15:21:19Z
2023-01-16T15:21:19Z
 
Type Journal Article
 
Identifier Thai, Giang; Margolies, Amy; Gelli, Aulo; Kumar, Neha; Sultana, Nasrin; Choo, Esther; and Levin, Carol. The economic costs of a multisectoral nutrition programme implemented through a credit platform in Bangladesh. Maternal and Child Nutrition 19(1): e13441. https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.13441
1740-8695
https://hdl.handle.net/10568/127223
https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.13441
 
Language en
 
Rights CC-BY-4.0
Open Access
 
Format e13441
 
Publisher Wiley
 
Source Maternal and Child Nutrition