What Gets Measured Gets Managed : Assessing Public Financing for Improving Nutrition Outcomes and Human Capital in Bhutan
This study summarizes estimates and lessons learned from application of the scaling up nutrition (SUN) methodology to assess public financing for nutrition in Bhutan. Using Bhutan’s classification of nutrition interventions, per capita public finan...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2019
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/117001576820223544/What-Gets-Measured-Gets-Managed-Assessing-Public-Financing-for-Improving-Nutrition-Outcomes-and-Human-Capital-in-Bhutan http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33076 |
| Summary: | This study summarizes estimates and
lessons learned from application of the scaling up nutrition
(SUN) methodology to assess public financing for nutrition
in Bhutan. Using Bhutan’s classification of nutrition
interventions, per capita public financing for addressing
malnutrition is estimated to be Nu 2,003 (approximately
United States (U.S.) 29 dollars, 1 percent of gross domestic
product (GDP), and 3 percent of total government
expenditures), 30 percent of which was for
nutrition-specific activities, and about one-third the level
of public spending on health. The level of public spending
for nutrition is similar in magnitude - and in the shares
across nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive
interventions - when compared with other developing
countries; recent estimates from Asia indicated an average
of 2 percent of aggregate government expenditures went
toward addressing nutrition, with a 20 percent share for
nutrition-specific interventions. Despite the level of
spending increasing from Nu 1,744 in financial year (FY)
2013-14, there does not appear to be any increase in
priority to nutrition over the course of the 11th five-year
plan (FYP): increases in the levels of expenditure for
nutrition have resulted from growth of the economy and not
because of higher budget allocation to addressing nutrition.
The largest nutrition-specific expenditures were those
related to the national school feeding program and the
largest nutrition-sensitive expenditures were those related
to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) programs. Notably,
the financing locus for nutrition-related expenditures lies
within the Ministry of Education (MoE) and the Ministry of
Works and Human Settlement (MoWHS). Although Bhutan defines
nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions
somewhat differently from how they are defined globally, the
magnitude of resources allocated toward improving nutrition
appears similar to those in other developing countries even
when adjusted to enhance global comparability. |
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