Challenges for the 21st Century: A Gender Perspective on Nutrition Through the Life Cycle by Philip James, Suttilak Smitisiri, Per Pinstrup-Anderson, Rajul Pandya-Lorch, Christopher Murray, Alan Lopez & Isatou Semega-Janneh. April 1998 (NPP No. 17)
Nutrition and Poverty, by S. Gillespie, N. Hasan, S. Osmani, U. Jonsson, R. Islam, D. Chirmulay, V.Vyas & R. Gross. November 1997 (NPP No.16)
How Nutrition Improves, by S. Gillespie, J. Mason, R. Martorell. July 1996. (SOA No.15)
Controlling Vitamin A Deficiency, by S. Gillespie and J. Mason, January 1994. (SOA No.14)
Effectiveness of Vitamin A Supplementation in the Control of Young Child Morbidity and Mortality in Developing Countries, by G. Beaton, R. Martorell, K. Aronson, B. Edmonston, G. McCabe, A. Ross, B. Harvey. December 1993. (SOA No.13)
Nutritional Issues in Food Aid, August 1993. (SOA No.12)
Nutrition and Population Links - Breastfeeding, Family Planning and Child Health, including papers by S. Huffman, R. Martorell and K. Merchant, R. Short, P. Ramachandran. (SOA No.11)
Nutrition-Relevant Actions - Some Experiences from the Eighties and Lessons for the Nineties by S. Gillespie and J. Mason, October 1991. (SOA No.10)
Controlling Iron Deficiency, edited by S. Gillespie, J. Kevany, and J. Mason, February 1991. (SOA No.9)
Managing Successful Nutrition Programmes, edited by J. Jennings, S. Gillespie, J. Mason, M. Lotfi and T. Scialfa, October 1990. (SOA No.8)
Appropriate Uses of Child Anthropometry, by G. Beaton, A. Kelly, J. Kevany, R. Martorell, and J. Mason, December 1990. (SOA No.7)
Women and Nutrition, including papers by J. McGuire and B. Popkin, M. Chatterjee and J. Lambert, J. Quanine, P. Kisanga, S. Bajaj, H. Ghassemi, October 1990. (SOA No.6)
Malnutrition and Infection - A Review, by A. Tomkins and F. Watson, October 1989, reprinted June 1993 (SOA No.5)
Women's Role in Food Chain Activities and their Implications for Nutrition, by Gerd Holmboe-Ottesen, Ophelia Mascarenhas and Margareta Wandel, May 1989. (SOA No.4)
The Prevention and Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders, by Basil S. Hetzel, March 1988, reprinted June 1993. (SOA No.3)
Delivery of Oral Doses of Vitamin A to Prevent Vitamin A Deficiency and Nutritional Blindness, by Keith P. West Jr and Alfred Sommer, June 1987, reprinted June 1993. (SOA No.2)
Map of Africa
Seasonality in Sub-Saharan Africa*
|
Angola |
Coastal area desert, SW semi-arid, rest of country: rains
Sept-April |
|
|
Burundi |
Three crop seasons: Sept-Jan, Feb-Jun., and Jul-Aug. |
|
|
CAR |
Rains March-Nov |
|
|
Djibouti |
Arid Climate |
|
|
Ethiopia |
Two rainy seasons February to May and June to
October |
|
|
Kenya |
N-E is semi-arid to arid, Central and SW rains: March-May and
Nov-Dec. |
|
|
Liberia |
Rains March-Nov |
|
|
Mozambique |
Coast is semi-arid, rest wet-dry. Harvest May |
|
|
Rwanda |
Rains Feb-May with Aug. harvest and Sept-Nov with Jan
harvest |
|
|
Sierra Leone |
Rains March-Oct. |
|
|
Somalia |
Two seasons: April to August (harvest) and October to
January/February (harvest) |
|
|
Sudan |
Rains April-Oct. |
|
|
|
North |
Rains begin May/June |
|
|
South |
Rains begin March/April |
|
Togo |
Two rainy seasons in S, one in N. Harvest August |
|
|
Uganda |
Rains Mar-Oct. |
|
|
Zaire |
Tropical climate. Harvest in N: November; in S
January |
|
* SOURCES: FAO, “Food Supply Situation and Crop Prospects in Sub-Saharan Africa”, Special Report; No 4/5.The SPHERE Project Conceptual Model of the causes of malnutrition in emergencies (draft, adapted from UNICEF)
Note: the Sphere project is an initiative to improve the quality of humanitarian assistance and to enhance accountability of the humanitarian system, through the production of globally applicable minimum standards. The humanitarian Charter is at the core of the Sphere project - it re-affirms what is already known from international humanitarian law and human rights treaties. The charter makes explicit links to the defined levels of service delivery set out in the five core sectors: water supply and sanitation; nutrition; food aid; shelter and site planning; and health services. Together, the Charter and Minimum Standards offer an operational framework for accountability in humanitarian response - a common set of criteria for programme monitoring; a benchmark from which to make some judgement about the effectiveness of work; and, probably most importantly, a benchmark for use in advocacy to enhance levels of services. To obtain more information on the Sphere project at http://www. sphereproject.org or email:sphere@ifrc.org
|
The UN ACC/SCN1, which is the focal point for harmonizing policies in nutrition in the UN system, issues these reports on the nutrition of refugees and displaced people with the intention of raising awareness and facilitating action to improve the situation. This system was started on the recommendation of the SCN's working group on Nutrition of Refugees and Displaced People, by the SCN in February 1993. After a break of some months this is a combined thirty-second and thirty third publication of a regular series of reports. Based on suggestions made by the working group and the results of a survey of RNIS readers, the Reports on the Nutrition Situation of Refugees and Displaced People will be published every three months, with updates on rapidly changing situations on an 'as needed' basis between full reports. Information is obtained from a wide range of collaborating agencies, both UN and NGO (see list of sources). The overall picture gives context and information which separate reports cannot provide by themselves. The information available is mainly about nutrition, health, and survival in refugee and displaced populations. It is organised by “situation” because problems often cross national boundaries. We aim to cover internally displaced populations as well as refugees. The system is aimed at the most nutritionally vulnerable people in the world - those forced to migrate - and the problems of those displaced may be similar whether or not they cross national boundaries. Definitions used are given in the box on the next page. The sections entitled “Priorities and recommendations” are intended to highlight the most pressing humanitarian needs. The recommendations are often put forward by agencies or individuals directly involved in assessments or humanitarian response programmes in the specific areas. The tables and figures at the end of the report provide a quick overview. Table 1 gives an estimate of the total refugee/displaced/returnee population, broken down by ‘risk’ category. Situations are classed into five categories relating to risk and/or prevalence of malnutrition. The prevalence/risk is indirectly affected by both the underlying causes of malnutrition, relating to food, health and care, and the constraints limiting humanitarian response. These categories are summations of the causes of malnutrition and the humanitarian response: · Populations in category I - the population is currently in a critical situation; they either have a very high risk of malnutrition or surveys have reported a very high prevalence of malnutrition and/or elevated mortality rates.These risk categories should not be used in isolation to prescribe the necessary response. In table 2, refugee and displaced populations are classified
by country of origin and country of asylum. Internally displaced populations are
identified along the diagonal line, which may also include some returnees.
Figure I shows the trends over time in total numbers and risk categories for
sub-Saharan Africa. Annex I summarises the survey results used in this
report. |
