The costs of Suaahara II, a complex scaled‐up multisectoral nutrition programme in Nepal

Abstract Limited evidence exists on the costs of scaled‐up multisectoral nutrition programmes. Such evidence is crucial to assess intervention value and affordability. Evidence is also lacking on the opportunity costs of implementers and participants engaging in community‐level interventions. We help to fill this gap by estimating the full financial and economic costs of the United States Agency for International Development‐funded Suaahara II (SII) programme, a scaled‐up multisectoral nutrition programme in Nepal (2016–2023). We applied a standardized mixed methods costing approach to estimate total and unit costs over a 3.7‐year implementation period. Financial expenditure data from national and subnational levels were combined with economic cost estimates assessed using in‐depth interviews and focus group discussions with staff, volunteers, community members, and government partners in four representative districts. The average annual total cost was US$908,948 per district, with economic costs accounting for 47% of the costs. The annual unit cost was US$132 per programme participant (mother in the 1000‐day period between conception and a child's second birthday) reached. Annual costs ranged from US$152 (mountains) to US$118 (plains) per programme participant. Personnel (63%) were the largest input cost driver, followed by supplies (11%). Community events (29%) and household counselling visits (17%) were the largest activity cost drivers. Volunteer cadres contributed significant time to the programme, with female community health volunteers spending a substantial amount of time (27 h per month) on SII activities. Multisectoral nutrition programmes can be costly, especially when taking into consideration volunteer and participant opportunity costs. This study provides much‐needed evidence of the costs of scaled‐up multisectoral nutrition programmes for future comparison against benefits.