The Management of Nutrition in Major Emergencies

A practical guide to measures needed to ensure that the food and nutrition needs of disaster-stricken populations, refugees, or internally displaced persons are adequately met. Noting that nutrition is always a key concern in emergency management, the book offers expert advice based on both the latest knowledge in the nutritional sciences and advances in concepts of emergency management that stress preparedness and long-term recovery. The engagement of local health services and authorities is emphasized as the best strategy for building national capacity and ensuring rapid recovery. The book covers the concepts, principles, and precise measures needed to ensure adequate nutrition in both the relief phase and the subsequent rehabilitation and development phases. Details range from a list of the equipment needed for a weight-for-height survey, through a diagram illustrating arrangements for ration distribution in camp situations, to instructions for preparing feeding mixtures for the treatment of specific deficiency diseases. Throughout, particular attention is given to conditions in developing countries, where inadequate nutrition and infectious diseases can make populations especially vulnerable to malnutrition in emergencies. The book has seven chapters. The first, on meeting nutritional requirements, explains the importance of nutritional assessment as a fundamental management tool for calculating food needs, monitoring the adequacy of food access and intake, and ensuring adequate food procurements. The chapter also sets out recommendations for mean daily per capita intakes of energy and protein and for micronutrients and other specific nutrients. The major nutritional deficiency diseases are covered in chapter two, which includes detailed information on the signs, symptoms, prevention, and treatment of protein-energy malnutrition, iron-deficiency anaemia, vitamin A deficiency, iodine deficiency disorders, beriberi, pellagra, and scurvy. Chapter three describes th