End "cycle of poverty" to improve worker productivity: UNICEF's Lake |
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A new report in Kyrgyzstan, produced by the Ministry of Health, UNICEF and the World Bank, finds undernutrition causes 22% of the deaths of children under 5 years and costs the Kyrgyz Republic $32 million (US) annually.
UNICEF executive director Tony Lake said under-nourished children results in "deepening the cycle of poverty" and called for greater investment in childhood nutrition. UNICEF pointed out that "three-quarters of the salt is iodized" but that "iodizing all salt sold will reduce iodine deficiency resulting in a US$500,000 annual benefit due to increased worker productivity".
Undernutrition is largely preventable, and the evidence of exceptionally high development returns for a number of direct nutrition interventions is conclusive. A recent study by the World Bank estimated the costs and the potential benefits of scaling up selected nutrition interventions at a global level. Costs per DALY saved were as low as US$ 3 (vitamin A supplementation), and benefit-cost ratios were as high as 30:1 (salt iodization). The Copenhagen Consensus 2008 brought together world-renowned economists to consider 30 interventions as the ―best buys‖ for addressing the 10 great challenges facing global development. Five of the top 10 priority interventions identified were nutrition programs. For example, supplementation with vitamin A and zinc were recognized as the first priorities, and iron fortification and salt iodization as the third priority.
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