Political economy challenges in nutrition
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Political economy challenges in nutrition Yarlini Balarajan1,2* and Michael R. Reich2
Abstract Background: Historically, implementing nutrition policy has confronted persistent obstacles, with many of these obstacles arising from political economy sources. While there has been increased global policy attention to improving nutrition in recent years, the difficulty of translating this policy momentum into results remains. Discussion: We present key political economy themes emanating from the political economy of nutrition literature. Together, these interrelated themes create a complex web of obstacles to moving nutrition policy forward. From these themes, we frame six political economy challenges facing the implementation of nutrition policy today. Building awareness of the broader political and economic issues that shape nutrition actions and adopting a more systematic approach to political economy analysis may help to mitigate these challenges. Conclusion: Improving nutrition will require managing the political economy challenges that persist in the nutrition field at global, national and subnational levels. We argue that a “mindshift” is required to build greater awareness of the broader political economy factors shaping the global nutrition landscape; and to embed systematic political economy analysis into the work of stakeholders navigating this field. This mindshift may help to improve the political feasibility of efforts to reform nutrition policy and implementation—and ensure that historical legacies do not continue to shape the future. Keywords: Nutrition, Policy reform, Political economy, Governance
Background At this time of heightened interest in nutrition and its positioning in the post-2015 development agenda, it is worthwhile to reflect on some of the challenges that have historically faced nutrition policy reform, so that these may inform future actions. As we explain in this paper, many obstacles confronting the adoption and implementation of nutrition policies, plans and programmes arise from political economy sources. Thus there is the need to look beyond the technical aspects of nutrition and consider the broader political and economic issues—such as those relating to power, institutions, incentives, ideas, interest groups—that shape nutrition actions. Here, we describe political economy themes emanating from the literature and use them to frame the persistent challenges operating in global nutrition. These political economy challenges will need to be addressed in order to increase
* Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Present Address: Nutrition Section, Programme Division, United Nations Children’s Fund, 3 UN Plaza, New York, NY 10017, USA 2 Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA
the political feasibility of efforts to translate momentum for nutrition into sustained results.
Political economy themes in nutrition policy
In the field of nutrition, political economy work has been slow to develop.
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