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The cost of the double burden of malnutrition: Social and economic impact - Summary of the pilot study in Chile, Ecuador and Mexico

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Introduction

The epidemiological and nutrition transition of Latin American countries imposes a double challenge for nutrition and food security public policies. On the one hand, to continue the task of eradicating young child undernutrition and, on the other, to face the increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity. The international relevance of this reality has resulted in both dimensions of malnutrition being included in the Global Goals for Sustainable Development. One of the targets of Hunger Zero, the second global goal, is “by 2030, ending all forms of malnutrition, including achieving, no later than 2025, the goals agreed to internationally on delayed growth and emaciation of children younger than five years old, and addressing the nutritional needs of adolescents, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and the elderly”.

Despite the relevance of both types of malnutrition for the region, due to their prevalence and effects and consequences, their prioritization in public policies is still lacking. Therefore, building on the experience that has been developed over the last decade to estimate the Cost of Hunger, in 2015 the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL) and the Regional Office of the World Food Programme (WFP) signed a memorandum of understanding to develop aa model of analysis to estimate the effects and costs of the double burden of malnutrition in countries in the region.

Within this context, this document explains the principal results of the pilot study, with estimates of the social and economic impact of malnutrition in three countries in the region.

The purpose of this project has been to design and apply a methodology to, first, estimate the effects of the double burden of malnutrition (undernutrition and overweight/obesity) on health, education and productivity, and the associated costs, with an initial pilot in three countries in the region: Chile, Ecuador and Mexico. The learning generated with this experience will allow for the methodology to be improved and later replicated it in other countries in the region.

The conceptual and methodological approach of this study is based on the analysis model developed by CEPAL to estimate the “cost of hunger”, used between 2006 and 2009 in countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, and later—from 2009 to present—adapted and used in countries in Africa. It also includes key aspects of the conceptual note developed by the National Institute of Public Health of Mexico specifically for this pilot study.

The document is comprised of three chapters. The first outlines the model of analysis developed for the study, including the main concepts linked to malnutrition and the double burden, the processes of epidemiological, demographic and nutrition transition that are on-going in the region, and the life cycle within the context of the problem addressed; the effects and economic consequences of malnutrition are also described. This is complemented by a description of the main characteristics of the methodology used.

In the second chapter, the estimates obtained by applying the model are explained and discussed in three different sections: the first section of the chapter explains the effects and costs associated with undernutrition, in the second section the estimates for overweight and obesity are presented, and the third explains the total costs of the double burden of malnutrition.

Finally, the third chapter is dedicated to a discussion about the feasibility of replicating the model in other countries in the region, the main findings of the study, and their relevance for the formulation of public policies.