Brazil’s multisector approach is a “powerful example” in the fight against malnutrition , says IFPRI

 A new report by Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), published on June 29, said that Brazil’s intersectoral policies approach and focus on pro-poor spending has helped the country reduce malnutrition drastically in the past decades – specially in the last decade – cutting child stunting and reducing regional differences.

“Brazil’s significant reduction of both stunting and geographic and socioeconomic inequality in malnutrition can serve as a powerful example for other countries in the region and around the world,” was one of the conclusions of the chapter on Brazil of the report Nourishing millions: Stories of change in nutrition.

Brazil was among eight case studies – the others were Thailand, Vietnam, India, Peru, Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Nepal – which implemented successful policies.

Brazil stood out for the its fast economic development, multisector approach, advances in basic health care and increased community participation.

In the multisector approach, the report goes back to the 1990s when the Brazilian government first implemented the Family Health Program, which started involving the local communities in basic health care.

But it was in the 2000s that Brazil started tackling malnutrition through multisectoral policies: cash transfer programmes (Bolsa Família), minimum salary increases, women’s health and breast feeding and smallholder farmer credit and agricultural input procurement program, were mentioned.

Improvement of access to public services and the start of a new wave of investment in sanitation also helped.
“Brazil’s multisectoral approach, however, went beyond just implementing policies and programs across the education, health, agriculture, social development, and finance sectors,” the report said. “Programs also were funded in such a way that they promoted intersectoral cooperation among the different ministries at the local level”.

The results stood out: child stunting was reduced  by 80% in the 1974/75 to 2006/07 comparison and, by the same comparison, the poorest regions were the most benefited since prevalence of stunting the Northeast region fell to 5.9% in 2006/07 from 22.2% in 1995.

Still, the report said that Brazil has still strong challenges such as improving access to clean water and sewage collection services and now it faces a new wave of child obesity.

In conclusion, the report said that fight against malnutrition started speeding in the new millennium when governments started to move closer to communities and civil society awhile thinkers and governments started to change changed their “either-or” approach – trying to identify which sector or problem needed to be tackled first – to a multilevel, multisectoral response.
The authors of the report also warn that some of the policies have been rolled back due to political changes, but if processes and principles are made clear, then the changes can be more enduring and replicated by other countries. 

Click here to download the full report.

Click here to download the chapter about Brazil.

Know more about Brazil’s struggle against hunger on our web-page Brasil da Mudança .

External link to original story about the report: https://nacoesunidas.org/publicacao-de-instituto-internacional-de-pesquisa-destaca-politicas-brasileiras-contra-a-fome/