Reducing Child Malnutrition : How Far Does Income Growth Take Us?

How rapidly will child malnutrition
respond to income growth? This article explores that
question using household survey data from 12 countries as
well as data on malnutrition rates in a cross-section of
countries since the 1970s. Both forms of analysis yield
similar results. Increases in income at the household and
national levels imply similar rates of reduction in
malnutrition. Using these estimates and better than
historical income growth rates, the article finds that the
millennium development goal of halving the prevalence of
underweight children by 2015 is unlikely to be met through
income growth alone. What is needed to accelerate reductions
in malnutrition is a balanced strategy of income growth and
investment in more direct interventions.