Optima Nutrition modelling

Optima Nutrition is a quantitative tool that can provide practical advice to governments to assist with the allocation of current or projected budgets across nutrition programs. The model contains a geospatial component to determine funding allocations that minimize stunting, wasting, anaemia or under-5 mortality at both the national and sub-national levels.

The model estimates the impact and cost-effectiveness a variety of vitamin supplementation programs, infant and young child feeding education, treatment of severe acute malnutrition, treatment and prevention of diarrhoea, fortification of foods, water sanitation and hygiene (WASH), family planning and malaria prevention interventions.

Optima Nutrition can answer the following types of questions:

• Scenario analyses: How might projected outcomes change under different intervention funding or coverage scenarios?
• Optimisations: How can a fixed budget be allocated across interventions to maximize impact?
• Investment priorities: Which interventions should receive priority additional funding, if it were available?
• Sub-national analyses: Which geographical regions should receive priority additional funding, if it were available?

The Optima Nutrition software was conceptualised and developed by the Optima Consortium for Decision Science with technical input from the World Bank, and is owned by Optima Consortium for Decision Science, Ltd.

Timeline

2017–ongoing.