A Challenge Paper written by John Hoddinott, Deputy Director in IFPRI's Poverty Health and Nutrition Division, Mark Rosegrant, Director of IFPRI's Environment and Production Technology Division and Maximo Torero, Division Director of the Markets, Trade, and Institutions Division, was used by high-level panel of five top economists, including four Nobel laureates, to help answer the question: Where can we get the biggest bang for our buck to advance human development and sustainability?
The single most important investment, according to the panel, would be to step up the fight against malnutrition. New research for the project by John Hoddinott of the International Food Policy Research Institute and Peter Orazem of Iowa State University focuses on an investment of $3 billion annually. This would purchase a bundle of interventions, including micronutrient provision, complementary foods, treatment for worms and diarrheal diseases, and behaviour-change programs, all of which could reduce chronic under-nutrition by 36 per cent in developing countries.
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