Choices has finalized a new report titled “The double burden of malnutrition in Zambia and Indonesia: How are national nutrition policies influenced by international recommendations?” The research has been conducted by Inge de Bresser, our intern writing her master thesis for Global Health at Maastricht University.
After elaborate data collection, comprising situation analyses, policy analyses, and interviews with stakeholders from the government, food companies, civil society organizations, and academic institutions in both countries, Inge concluded that both countries should develop double-duty nutrition policies. This means that strategies and interventions address both under- and overnutrition simultaneously.
Her recommendations recognise that multiple forms of malnutrition are often caused by shared drivers and are in line with World Health Organization's recommendations on the double burden of malnutrition. In order to achieve double-duty policies in the most efficient way, the countries should adapt (often referred to as retrofit) existing undernutrition-focussed interventions to make these address multiple forms of malnutrition simultaneously.
Interested in further reading? Please send an email to bobbie@choicesprogramme.org if you want to receive a soft copy of the report.