United Nations System
Standing Committee on Nutrition

Refugee Nutrition Information System (RNIS),
No. 42 - Report on the Nutrition Situation of Refugees and Displaced Populations

August 2003

ISSN 1564-376X

Table of Contents

• Greater Horn of Africa
  • Ethiopia
  • Somalia
  • Sudan
• West Africa
  • Ivory Coast
  • Liberia
• Great Lakes
  • Burundi
  • Democratic Republic of Congo
  • Uganda
  • Republic of Congo
• Southern Africa
  • Angola  
• Asia Selected regions
  • Afghanistan Region  
• In Brief
  • Eritrea, Kenya, Guinea  
• RNIS readership survey analysis
• Listing of sources  
• Abbreviations used in the text
• Nutritional Assessments
• Notes
• Indicators and classification

Highlights

Ethiopia The food security situation has not improved over the past months. The government of Ethiopia launched a new appeal in April 2003, adding 1.2 m people to the previously 11.3 m people identified as in need of food aid.

The different surveys showed highly different nutrition situations, varying from acceptable to dramatically high. This is probably due to a combination of factors: the effect of the current drought, the underlying vulnerability of the population and the adequacy of the humanitarian and long-term response.

The provision of food aid in sufficient quantities seems to play a major role in the short-term improvement of the nutrition situation. Long-term programmes are also needed to break the vicious cycle of crises and destitution.

The January 2003 WFP food appeal was fully pledged in July 2003. This does not include, however, the new April appeal.

On the other hand, in Eritrea, WFP has only 62% of the food required to support 900,000 of the 1.4 m drought-affected people. WFP can only assist 600,000 people, despite food insecurity is expected to worsen until the next harvest, due by October 2003.

Sudan Food security has deteriorated over the past few months in parts of southern Sudan. In highly food- insecure areas, the hunger gap has begun earlier than usual. As a consequence of funding shortfall, WFP has been obliged to cut the food rations distributed in August by 50%. WFP operations in Sudan are only 30% funded. This will have dramatic consequences for populations in desperate need.

All the available indicators, ie food security, prevalence of malnutrition and rates of mortality, indicate a steady decline of the situation since 2002 and a major humanitarian crisis. Unless sufficient humanitarian interventions are implemented, it is likely that this trend will continue and the situation will further deteriorate.

Liberia The one million population of the capital and an estimated 250,000 displaced people, who had sought refuge in Monrovia, have been trapped for weeks. Populations have had little access to basic services. Screenings carried out in accessible districts and IDP camps showed a poor nutrition situation. Humanitarian access has slightly improved in Monrovia since the deployment of peace-keeping forces, but about 70% of the country was still inaccessible to humanitarian aid.

Ivory Coast Following the creation of a "weapons-free zone of confidence" in western Ivory Coast, the population which had been displaced by heavy fighting in the area has begun to return home, especially in June 2003. The situation has, however, remained tense. The humanitarian situation in western Ivory Coast is reported to be dire. Many people have been hiding in the bush for months, and find their homes and properties (including cash crops and food stocks) destroyed or looted when returning. Screening at mobile clinics showed a very serious nutrition situation; there was a high proportion of children with oedema.

Risk Factors Affecting Nutrition in Selected Situations

Situations in the table below are classed into five categories (row 1) relating to prevalence and or risk of malnutrition (I—very high risk/prevalence, II—high risk/prevalence, III—moderate risk/prevalence, IV—not at elevated risk/prevalence, V-unknown risk/prevalence, for further explanation see at the end of the report). The prevalence/risk is indirectly affected by both the underlying causes of malnutrition, relating to food, health and care (rows 2 – 4) and the constraints limiting humanitarian response (rows 5 –8). These categories are summations of the causes of malnutrition and the humanitarian response, but should not be used in isolation to prescribe the necessary response.

ü Adequate
O Mixed
X Problem
?ü Don’t know, but probably adequate
?X Don’t know, but probably inadequate
?O Don’t know, but probably mixed  
* This refers to both adequate presence and training of NGOs and local staff where security allows

This report was compiled by Claudine Prudhon of the UNS/SCN Secretariat, Sarah Philpot assisted in the editing
The chairman of the UNS/SCN is Catherine Bertini
The SCN Secretariat and the RNIS Coordinator extend most sincere thanks to all those individuals and agencies who have provided information and time for this issue, and hope to continue to develop the excellent collaboration which has been forged over the years.

If you have information to contribute to forthcoming reports, or would like to request back issues of the Reports on the Nutrition Situation of Refugees and Displaced Populations (RNIS), please contact:
Claudine Prudhon, RNIS Coordinator
UNS/Standing Committee on Nutrition
20, avenue Appia, 1211 Geneva 27, SWITZERLAND
Tel: +(41-22) 791.04.56, Fax: +(41-22) 798.88.91
Email: scn@who.int Web: http://www.unsystem.org/scn

Funding support is gratefully acknowledged from CIDA, DFA (Ireland), DFID (UK), UNHCR, and WFP.

This report was made possible through the support provided to the Food and Nutrition Assistance (FANta) Project by the Office of Health and Nutrition Bureau for Global Programs, Field Support and Research at the U.S. Agency for International Development, under the terms of Cooperative Agreement No. HNE-A-00-98-00046-00 awarded to the Academy for Educational Development(AED). The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S.Agency for International Development.

ISSN 1564-376X