EMERGENCY NUTRITION AND NUTRITION DURING PANDEMIC COVID-19

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The world is facing an unprecedented number of humanitarian situations today. Protracted conflicts, natural disasters, and devastating food insecurity grips communities around the world, threatening lives and livelihoods – and women and children bear the greatest consequences



What is an emergency? 

Any situation where there is an exceptional and widespread threat to life, health and basic subsistence, which is beyond the coping capacity of individuals and the community” (Oxfam Humanitarian Policy, 2003.)


‘Complex emergency’ refers to a major humanitarian crisis of a multi-causal nature, essentially from internal or external conflict, and which requires an international response that extends beyond the mandate or capacity of any single agency.

What is a nutrition emergency? 

A variety of classification systems at the national, regional, and global levels have been developed to classify the severity of food and nutritional crises. These classifications suggest that emergencies can be divided into progressive stages the most severe being labeled “famine".

The classification of a situation is not prescriptive and needs to be used relative to local circumstances. Current recommendations are to consider overall trends in global acute malnutrition (GAM) and severe acute malnutrition (SAM) as part of a thorough situation analysis that takes account of the context rather than waiting until a certain threshold has been reached, by when it could be too late to prevent undernutrition and associated mortality.

Where do nutrition emergencies occur? 
The largest famines in terms of excess deaths have occurred in Asia.

China (1958-1962) killed 30 million people; the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (the 1990s) killed up to 3.5 million people - The root cause for both famines was government policies that led to massive food shortages.

Africa has suffered more frequent famines but with fewer deaths (lower population density)


What are the causes of nutrition emergencies?

Emergencies, where acute malnutrition rates rise, are usually directly caused by severe shortages of food combined with disease epidemics. Some populations are vulnerable as a result of underlying factors such as poverty, urban pressures, climate change, chronic food insecurity, and poor infrastructure. 
Where there is underlying vulnerability, sudden events such as natural disasters, conflict, political crises, economic shocks, and food price increases can trigger a nutrition emergency

Who are most nutritionally vulnerable in emergencies?

The population groups most nutritionally vulnerable in emergencies can be categorized according to their:

👪 Physiological vulnerability (e.g. young children, pregnant and lactating women, older people, disabled and people living with chronic illnesses such as HIV and AIDS)

🌊Geographical vulnerability (e.g. people living in drought- or flood-prone areas or in areas of conflict)

🏢Political vulnerability (e.g. oppressed populations)

🚨 Internal displacement and refugee status (e.g. those who have fled with few resources)




Nutrition responses in emergencies:

Typical responses to nutrition emergencies include those that aim to prevent as well as treat undernutrition. Responses aimed at preventing undernutrition include:

  • General food distribution
  • Livelihood’s support
    • Income and employment (cash transfers, cash for work)
    • Production support (seed and tool distribution, seed fairs, fodder distribution, veterinary care, destocking, etc)
    • Market support (cash and voucher programs)
  • Blanket supplementary feeding
  • Infant and young child feeding support
    • Breastfeeding protection and support
    • Minimizing the risks of artificial feeding
    • Enabling appropriate and safe complementary feeding
  • Health support
    • Provision of essential health services
    • Prevention and management of communicable diseases
  • Micronutrient interventions
    • Provision of fresh food items, nutrient-rich commodities, or micronutrient-fortified foods in a general ration
    • Distribution of food supplementation products

Interventions to treat undernutrition in emergencies include

  • Therapeutic care
  • Targeted supplementary feeding programs
  • Treatment of micronutrient deficiency diseases


Challenges in nutrition in emergencies

Although significant progress has been made in the response to nutrition emergencies, challenges still remain. Some of the challenges include:

  • Lack of commonly agreed classification system for nutritional crises 
  • Limited evidence for an effective model to treat moderate acute malnutrition 
  • Constraints to the operating environment  Inadequate skills and expertise in nutrition in emergencies at the national level 
  • Linking relief, recovery, and development efforts
  •  Linking nutrition interventions with each other and with other sectors

Nutrition During COVID-19 Pandemic


Nutritional Intervention in Viral Infections







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