Nutrition Governance score

What does this indicator tell us?

This indicator is a description of a country's strengths and weaknesses in various aspects of nutrition governance.

How is it defined?

The nutrition governance score is "strong", "medium" or "weak", depending on the presence of a set of elements identified by the countries themselves as crucial for successful development and implementation of national nutrition policies and strategies. The following 10 elements or characteristics are used to assess and describe the strength of a country's nutrition governance:

• existence of an intersectoral mechanism to address nutrition;
• existence of a national nutrition plan or strategy;
• whether the national nutrition plan or strategy is adopted;
• whether the national nutrition plan or strategy is part of the overall national development plan;
• existence of a national nutrition policy;
• whether the nutrition policy is adopted;
• existence of national dietary guidelines;
• allocation of budget for implementation of the national nutrition plan, strategy or policy;
• regular nutrition monitoring and surveillance; and
• existence of a line for nutrition in the government's health budget.

These elements were identified by countries as key elements for successful development and implementation of national nutrition policies and strategies, during a review of the progress of countries in implementing the World Declaration and Plan of Action for Nutrition. This plan was adopted by the 1992 International Conference on Nutrition, the first intergovernmental conference on nutrition (Nishida et al., 2003). The method and scoring are described in detail by Engesveen et al. (2009).

What are the consequences and implications?

The components of the composite indicator have been identified by countries as important for determining the completeness of national nutrition plans and policies (Nishida, Mutru & Imperial Laue, 2003). For instance, a national nutrition plan and policy was considered to provide the political basis for initiating action. In many countries, the official government endorsement or adoption of a national nutrition plan or policy facilitated its implementation. The role of an intersectoral coordinating committee in implementing national nutrition plans and policies was also considered to be crucial, although the nature (i.e. whether executive or advisory), members, organizational structure and location of the committee determined its effectiveness. Additional important elements were regular surveys and other means of collecting data on nutrition. A national nutrition information system being updated periodically, and data on food and nutrition being collected routinely, were considered important for evaluating the effectiveness of national nutrition plans and policies, and for identifying subsequent actions.

Source of data

Global database on the Implementation of Food and Nutrition Action (GIFNA)

(https://gifna.who.int/).

Further reading

Nishida C, Mutru T, Imperial Laue R. Strategies for effective and sustainable national nutrition plans and policies. In: Elmadfa I, Anklam E, Konig JS (editors). Modern aspects of nutrition, present knowledge and future perspectives. Basel, Karger (Forum for Nutrition 56), 2003:264/266.

Engesveen K, Nishida C, Prudhon C, Shrimpton R. Assessing countries' commitment to accelerate nutrition action demonstrated in PRSPs, UNDAFs and through nutrition governance. SCN News. 2009;37 (https://www.unscn.org/web/archives_resources/files/scnnews37.pdf).

WHO. Global nutrition policy review. What does it take to scale-up nutrition action? Geneva: World Health Organization; 2013 (https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241505529).

WHO. Global nutrition policy review 2016-2017. Country progress in creating enabling policy environments for promoting healthy diets and nutrition. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2018 (https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241514873).

Internet resources

WHO. Landscape analysis on countries readiness to accelerate action in nutrition. (https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241503587).