亚开行-亚行营养国际社会保护简报（英）

Making Social Protection Programs Work for Improved Nutrition in Asia and the PacificRichard Morgan, Surabhi Mittal and Manoj Kumar, Nutrition International, Babken Babajanian and Anand Ramesh Kumar, Asian Development Bank April 2025POLICY BRIEFThis policy brief1 provides an overview of major nutrition challenges in the Asia region and of the evolution and current status of national social protection policies and programs in selected Asian countries. By applying a standard framework of analysis and categorizing nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions, the brief identifies opportunities to advance better nutrition and address its underlying drivers among vulnerable groups, integrating both types of interventions with social protection. Focusing on cash and in-kind transfers, as well as school feeding programs, this brief makes recommendations for the design and implementation of social protection in Asia based on the analysis of available evidence and experience, to seize available opportunities through multisector approaches that focus explicitly on nutritional impacts among high-risk groups.1. Background: The Nutrition Situation and Trends in AsiaDespite considerable progress in many countries, Asia still has the highest number of young children and women affected by malnutrition. This is evident in key indicators of nutritional status for these highly vulnerable groups where data are widely available: elevated rates of stunting and wasting among children under five; anaemia among both adolescent girls and women of reproductive age; and the high prevalence of low birthweight in various countries. In particular, South Asia faces major challenges of undernutrition, with 31.8 percent children under five experiencing stunting (low height for age) and 14.7 percent of children under five experiencing wasting (low weight for height). Additionally, half of the women of reproductive age in South Asia continue to suffer from anaemia (FAO et al. 2021). Globally, stunting among young children is significantly more common in the most impoverished segments of society. However, the difference in child stunting rates between wealthier and the most impoverished households is particularly marked in South Asia (UNICEF 2015).FIGURE 1: Prevalence of Stunting and Wasting in Children Under Five, Selected Asian CountriesPrevalence of stunting and wasting in children under 5, latest available yearVIET NAMTIMOR-LESTESRI LANKAPHILIPPINESPAKISTANNEPALMONGOLIALAO PDR*INDONESIAINDIACAMBODIABANGLADESHWASTING STUNTING0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%5.8%9.9%15.1%5.6%7.1%12.0%09.0%10.2%17.3%9.7%9.8%22.3%48.8%16.0%28.7%36.7%30.4%7.1%30.2%30.8%31.8%29.9%30.2%Source: UNICEF, WHO, & World Bank Group, 2021 *Lao PDR = Lao People’s Democratic Republic2 MAKING SOCIAL PROTECTION PROGRAMS WORK FOR IMPROVED NUTRITION IN ASIA AND THE PACIFIC – POLICY BRIEF1 This Policy Brief draws extensively on the A