FSAU's Nutrition Analysis: Nutrition information is a key indicator of the wellbeing of people.
During the past four years, with financial support from USAID/OFDA, the
Nutrition Surveillance Project within FAO's Food Security Analysis Unit
has become the focal point for the collection, analysis and sharing of
information on nutrition in Somalia.
The nutrition project design incorporates the key steps in an
information system. The design specifies technical support to data
collection through both facility and sentinel site based surveillance
systems, nutrition surveys and rapid assessments. The resulting
data is analysed using relevant contextual data; and the ensuing
information is disseminated to potential users in appropriate
formats. These outputs / sub-objectives are logically linked to
the immediate objective of timely and appropriate information on
nutritional status of population in food insecure areas of Somalia. In
the absence of a national unified government the FSAU operates within
the context of the Somalia Aid Coordinating Body, its sectoral
committees and relevant working groups.
The conceptual framework drawn on by the FSAU Nutrition project focuses
on the key factors that influence nutritional status. Fragile
socio-economic and political environment, food insecurity, unfavorable
care practices and health environment lead to a cycle of malnutrition
and further inadequate intake of nutrients. Poor nutritional status or
malnutrition results from a complex set of elements and not one simple
cause.
Nutrition surveillance undertaken by FSAU and partners utilizes a
diverse range of information sources on nutrition. These include
nutrition surveys, health facility information, rapid assessments,
sentinel site surveillance and intervention data. Information on the
wide range of factors affecting nutrition is also collected from
partners in other sectors of health, food security, water and security.
Most recently, methods and tools for the monitoring of dietary intake
and coping strategies have been developed and are being tested during
2005.
Importance of Nutrition Information
In a population faced with civil insecurity, unreliable climate,
completely inadequate social services and major threats to livelihoods,
monitoring of the welfare of the population is essential. In the
absence of more comprehensive information systems, nutritional status
has become the single most useful indicator used in evaluation and
decision making. The demand for reliable information has grown
steadily and users now include humanitarian organisations within
Somalia and the regional, local government in Somalia, donors, academic
institutions and monitoring bodies throughout the world.
Within the FSAU Food Security Analysis System, nutrition status serves
as a vital indicator of the overall wellbeing of populations.
Deterioration in nutritional status can be an early indicator of
impending hardship if interpreted together with disease and food
security patterns based on the livelihood systems of a given
community. Continuous analysis of the nutrition situation
combined with other indicators e.g. food security, can help to identify
the stages of a drought process and the response of the population to
events around them.
Nutrition in Somalia
Much of Somalia is affected by repeated droughts, flooding, low access
to water, inadequate or absent health services and a highly volatile
security situation that results in population displacement and gross
disruption of the economy. Maintaining livelihoods and a minimum level
of health is a constant challenge to the population of Somalia. While
the most vulnerable populations reside in Southern and Central Somalia,
variations in weather patterns, disease outbreaks, population
movements, cross border issues and economic crises result in problems
in other parts of Somalia too.
Throughout Southern and Central Somalia, typical levels of malnutrition
in children below the age of five years, outside times of crisis,
remain at over 15% (W/H,-2Z scores or oedema), a level that would
prompt major emergency humanitarian interventions in other
countries. In the north of Somalia, malnutrition rates are some
what lower although substantial pockets of high vulnerability are seen
in the urban centers, displaced people's camps and are as experiencing
extreme environmental degradation. High levels of severe
(W/H<-3 Zscores or oedema) malnutrition (up to 5% in some
surveys),represent the high proportion of children under five that face
a high risk of death. A generally high incidence of diarrhoeal and
other communicable diseases and low immunization coverage for measles
further increase this risk. Throughout the country, levels of
malnutrition are consistently and significantly beyond acceptable
levels.
FSAU Products from Nutrition Analysis
With the overall goal of facilitating better decisions that contribute
to a reduction in malnutrition in Somalia, the ultimate target group is
the Somali population. The intermediate target beneficiaries
include decision makers and although the initial thrust of the project
targeted humanitarian organisations, the investment in reaching
decision makers at local and household level is increasing.
