The 34th issue of the RNIS provides updates on selected emergency contexts around the globe. The focus is predominantly Sub-Saharan Africa and this reflects the greater amount of nutritional information from emergency contexts that is currently available for the region. Some previously covered countries such as Rwanda, the Republic of Congo and the Indonesian region, including East Timor, have not been covered in this issue. This is because the RNIS has, for some time, been unable to source any new information on the nutrition or food security situation of emergency affected populations in these contexts.
Detailed information on the surveys used in each RNIS issue is to be found in an annex at the back of the publication. The data comes from a variety of UN and NGO sources and the RNIS is very grateful for the information it receives and would like to encourage agencies to send data, where available, as regularly as possible to accscn@who.int.
The RNIS would also like to reiterate that it is mandated to provide information on the nutrition situation of refugees and displaced populations only. The RNIS cannot report the complexities of natural disasters such as the Horn of Africa drought. However, very extensive information is available on this and other natural and human made emergencies and can be accessed from the internet at http://www.reliefweb.int.
Various country specific information is also available, and the RNIS would like to draw people’s attention to reports by the UNDP Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia at http://www.telecom.net.et/~undp-eue/. There is also the Food Security Analysis Unit for Somalia which produces regular ‘Nutrition Updates’, containing very de-tailed area specific data and analysis. To receive these reports please contact Noreen Prendiville at noreen.prendiville@fsau.or.ke.
