Measuring the Affordability of Nutritious Diets in Africa: Price Indexes for Diet Diversity and the Cost of Nutrient Adequacy
Introduces a new cost of diet diversity index based on the lowest-cost way to include at least 5 different food groups
Abstract
Policies and programmes often aim to improve the affordability of nutritious diets, but existing food price indexes are based on observed quantities that may not meet nutritional goals. To measure changes in the cost of reaching international standards of diet quality, the authors introduce a new cost of diet diversity index based on the lowest-cost way to include at least 5 different food groups as defined by the widely used minimum dietary diversity for women (MDD-W) indicator and compare that to a Cost of Nutrient Adequacy indicator for the lowest-cost way to meet estimated average requirements of essential nutrients and dietary energy
This work was supported by the ‘Innovative Methods and Metrics for Agriculture-Nutrition Actions’ (IMMANA) programme funded by UK Department for International Development.
Citation
William A Masters, Yan Bai, Anna Herforth, Daniel B Sarpong, Fulgence Mishili, Joyce Kinabo, Jennifer C Coates; Measuring the Affordability of Nutritious Diets in Africa: Price Indexes for Diet Diversity and the Cost of Nutrient Adequacy, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Volume 100, Issue 5, 1 October 2018, Pages 1285–1301, https://doi.org/10.1093/ajae/aay059