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Health Policy and Planning 2005 20(6):411; doi:10.1093/heapol/czi062
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© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press in association with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. All rights reserved.

Invited commentary

Authors' response

Arabella Duffield and Anna Taylor

Save the Children UK, London

Correspondence: Arabella Duffield, Save the Children UK, 1 St John's Lane, London, EC1M 4AR, UK. E-mail: a.duffield{at}savethechildren.org.uk


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 Introduction
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Save the Children UK originally decided to publish the findings of our assessment of the Bangladesh Integrated Nutrition Project (BINP) because we believed that the merits of the programme were being exaggerated. We were concerned that scarce funds for nutrition programming were being wasted as a large-scale expansion of this programme was begun. As an agency with some expertise in nutrition programming in Bangladesh and beyond, we felt that it was appropriate to draw this problem to the attention of policy makers and academics alike.

Since submitting our paper to Health Policy and Planning, the debates about the merits of scaling-up the BINP have continued both within and outside the country. The report by the World Bank's Operations Evaluation Department (described in detail by Howard White in this issue) is the most rigorous and unbiased assessment of the impact of this programme published to date. This review concludes that the BINP only had a small population level impact on its major objective – reducing the prevalence of malnutrition in children under five – and hence that the programme should not be scaled up in its current form.

The BINP has been one of the most closely studied nutrition programmes ever implemented, for which the Government of Bangladesh and the World Bank should be commended. Policy makers in Bangladesh, and the donors who support them, must now base their plans to reduce malnutrition in the new strategy for health, nutrition and population on the impartial evidence put forward by the Operations Evaluation Department. Save the Children UK will continue to contribute to the debate by sharing learning from new pilot interventions to improve the nutritional situation in its project areas.


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Arabella Duffield is the nutrition adviser for Save the Children UK in London. Anna Taylor is head of basic services for Save the Children UK in London.


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This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
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Right arrow Articles by Duffield, A.
Right arrow Articles by Taylor, A.
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PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Duffield, A.
Right arrow Articles by Taylor, A.
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