United Nations System
Standing Committee on Nutrition

Refugee Nutrition Information System (RNIS),
No. 43 - Report on the Nutrition Situation of Refugees and Displaced Populations

November 2003

Table of Contents

This report is issued on the general responsibility of the Secretariat of the UN System/Standing Committee on Nutrition; the material it contains should not be regarded as necessarily endorsed by, or reflecting the official positions of the UNS/SCN and its UN member agencies. The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the UNS/SCN or its UN member agencies concerning the legal status of any country.

This report was compiled by Claudine Prudhon of the UNS/SCN Secretariat Sarah Philpot assisted in the editing.
The chairperson 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), NORAD, 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

Table of Contents

• Greater Horn of Africa
  • Eritrea
  • Ethiopia
  • Kenya
  • Somalia
  • Sudan
• West Africa
  • Guinea
  • Ivory Coast
  • Sierra Leone
  • Liberia
• Great Lakes
  • Burundi
  • Democratic Republic of Congo
  • United Republic of Tanzania
  • Uganda  
• Southern Africa
  • Angola  
• Asia Selected regions
  • Afghanistan Region  
• Middle East
  • Occupied Palestinian Territories  
• Abbreviations used in the text
• Listing of sources  
• Nutritional Assessments
• Indicators and classification
• Notes

Highlights

Eritrea
Whilst donors' responses to the humanitarian appeal was low at the beginning of the year, their commitment to the crisis in Eritrea has since increased and so far has reached 62% of the revised 2003 Consolidated Appeal (CAP). Additional funds are, however, urgently needed. The nutrition situation does not seem to have improved. The expected average next harvest will probably temper the food insecurity for some months, but food aid will probably still be required in 2004.  

Kenya
Malnutrition rates are unacceptably high in refugee camps around Dadaab. Refugees, and especially the poorest seem to be highly dependent on external aid. Donors should ensure that adequate food rations and basic items are regularly provided to the refugees.  

Sudan
According to the nutrition survey results made available to RNIS, the nutrition situation is still serious in Sudan. A new crisis has emerged both among internally displaced people in Darfur, and in Chad where there are refugees. They are thought to have a high risk of malnutrition, unless adequate assistance is provided.  

Tanzania
The recent restrictions of movement outside the refugee camps and the reduction in assistance and especially of food assistance seemed to have had a slight impact on the nutrition status of children underfive, which is, however, still under-control. Moreover, thousands of refugees have left the camps, partly because of the hardship conditions. Had they remained, the nutrition status may have been worst.  

Uganda
Attacks on the civilian population by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) have spread from northern Uganda to Teso region over the past months. It is estimated that, in addition to the 800,000 displaced in the north, about 300,000 people are displaced in the east. Increased commitments in terms of funding, humanitarian action and crisis resolution are needed to mitigate the dire situation in northern/eastern Uganda.  

Occupied Palestinian Territories
The Palestinian Territories have been under hard military and economic pressure since the beginning of the second Intifada in September 2000. The economy has suffered badly and unemployment and poverty have risen. There has been a decrease in access to food and the public health system has deteriorated. However, good structures were in place before the Intifada, donors’ support to the Palestinian Authority or through relief assistance has risen considerably during the Intifada and families have had good coping mechanisms. This may explain the mitigation of the effects of the crisis. However, coping mechanisms tend to become exhausted during the Intifada and donors’ support to decrease. The longer the current crisis lasts, the more difficult will be the ability of Palestinian Society to cope.
 

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