Data for Children Collaborative Publishes Final Report on Impact Collaboration of Seasonality on Nutrition Surveys
Data for Children Collaborative’s nutrition team published the final report for their impact collaboration project on the Impact of Seasonality on Nutrition Surveys. This impact collaboration was enabled by Data for Children in partnership with the Jameel Observatory for Food Security Early Action.
This final report reveals that enhanced estimates of child wasting, considering seasonal differences, can be effectively modelled using existing data. The study highlights key findings from Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, and Nigeria, highlighting that child wasting varies seasonally and is influenced by factors such as wealth and education.
Key points include:
Seasonal patterns of wasting were identified in all four countries.
Monthly variations in wasting scores were observed.
A multi-level logistic regression model pinpointed variables correlated with wasting, many of which fluctuate seasonally.
The model accurately estimated monthly wasting values based on survey dates.
The authors recommend incorporating diverse data and specific geospatial metrics to improve accuracy.
This work has laid the foundations for further research into wasting, which Data for Children Collaborative is currently carrying out with the Joint Child Malnutrition Estimates (JME) group, an inter-agency team from UNICEF, the World Health Organisation and the World Bank. Data for Children Collaborative’s new project is exploring what can be done on a global level for Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) reporting by country, based on universally available data.