The Refugee Nutrition Information System (RNIS) was set up in 1993, under the guidance of the ACC/SCN’s Working Group on Nutrition of Refugees and Displaced People1. At that time, “at least 35 million people worldwide [had] either fled their country as refugees or been displaced internally due mainly to civil war.... If we include internally displaced people, the ‘refugee nation’ of 30 to 40 million people would easily be the poorest in the world ranking as a medium-sized country” (ACC/SCN, mid-1991).
1 The name of the Working Group was changed to the Working Group on Nutrition in Emergencies at the SCN’s annual session in Oslo in April 1998. This Working Group is co-chaired by UNHCR and WFP.
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Funding for the RNIS project has been provided over the
years by Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Department of Foreign
Affairs (DFA(Ireland)), Department for International Development (DFID(UK)),
Norwegian Agency for International Development (NORAD), United Nations
Children’s Fund (UNICEF), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR), US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Food
Programme (WFP). |
The Reports focus on emergency situations, many of which are not covered in the media, and may quickly be ‘forgotten’. Recurring problems are highlighted, and often suggestions for response are made.
Figure 1: Number of Refugees and Internally Displaced People in Sub-Saharan Africa and Estimated Nutritional Over Time (Dec 98-Jun 98)
Between 1993 and 1998, the number of refugees and internally displaced people covered in the RNIS Reports has fluctuated, reaching a peak at the height of the crisis in the Great Lakes in early 1995 (figure 1). The first RNIS Report included information on eleven situations. New situations were added as crises erupted, and reporting was discontinued as repatriation programmes came successfully to an end, such as Mozambique and the Benin/Ghana/Togo region. The 24th issue covered sixteen situations, five of which were outside Sub-Saharan Africa.
Special topics have also been covered. For example, there was a supplement on the nutrition situation in North Korea and a report on food security in Liberia. Also, information taken from RNIS reports was synthesised into chapters included in the ‘Update on the Nutrition Situation, 1994’ and the’ Third Report on the World Nutrition Situation’, both published by ACC/SCN.
Approximately 800 copies of the RNIS Reports are distributed to UN agencies, NGOs, donor governments and academic institutions on a quarterly basis. The most recent readership survey indicated that, on average, ten people read each copy. Updates on rapidly changing situations are distributed by e-mail and appear on the ACC/SCN website (http://www.unsystem.org/accscn).
We are taking the opportunity presented by the publication of the 25th issue of the RNIS Reports to review some of the changes in emergency response over the last five years. We will first highlight situations where wasting was brought rapidly under control. We will then look at some of the factors that have led to less than optimal results, followed by what has been accomplished to improve response over the last five years. We conclude with some ideas for future improvements in the RNIS Reports that could even further enhance communication, stimulate thought, and promote improvement.
