The Cost of the Diet
A novel tool for understanding the barriers to improving child nutrition.
- Published
- September 2009
The Cost of the Diet (CoD) is an exciting new tool developed by Save the Children UK, as part of our work to reduce child malnutrition.
The CoD calculates the cost of the cheapest diet that meets the nutritional requirements of families using just the foods available locally. This data is combined with information developed by interviewing members of households about what they eat and how they live (called Household Economy Approach assessments).
It can also be used to estimate the proportion of households in a region that are unable to afford a nutritious diet, as well as the size of the gap between current income and the amount of money needed to meet the needs of a household.
It provides a unique perspective on seasonal changes in nutrition security and can be used to highlight which vitamins and minerals are lacking in the diets of poor families.
The CoD is intended to be used to inform programme design, as part of baseline assessments and alongside nutrition/food security surveillance. We envisage that the CoD will continue to be developed and improved based on the experiences of those who use it. We welcome feedback on it. We're also keen to collaborate with other organizations on its use. Comprehensive CoD guidelines and analysis software are available on request.
Find out more
- Download an overview of the Cost of the Diet method (PDF 80KB)
- Read Cost of the Diet: a novel approach to estimate affordability of a nutritious diet (Field Exchange, Issue 34)
- Read The minimum cost of a healthy diet: implications for low-income families in high-burden areas (Presentation at MSF conference ‘Starved for Attention’)
Related reading
- How the Global Food Crisis is Hurting Children: The impact of the food price hike on a rural community in northern Bangladesh
- A Causal Analysis of Malnutrition, Including the Minimum Cost of a Healthy Diet (PDF 788KB)
- The Minimum Cost of a Healthy Diet: Findings from piloting a new methodology in four study locations
- The Household Economy Approach: A guide for programme planners and policy-makers
- The Practitioners’ Guide to the Household Economy Approach
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