FaminesChapter 2

FaminesAre localized, temporary and severe food shortages.

The Irish Potato Famine72% of Irish people illiterateIncome was 60% of level in BritainTwo-thirds depend on agriculture for livelihood40% were landless laborers1/3 of Irish depended on potato for foodFarmers eat 12 lbs of potatoes daily

Potato FamineThe potato blightHalf of crop destroyed in 1845Famine related deaths range from 290,000 to 1,250,000 of a total of 8 million people.How do you respond to something like this?Policy – Technology Policy, Trade Policy and Poverty Alleviation Policy.

FaminesNatural Famines Created by government policy

The Ukraine Famine 1932-1933Chinese Great Leap Forward Famine of 1959-1961

Recent FaminesNorth KoreaSouthern Africa

When Food Aid is Not Needed

Box 2.3 Page 22Some natural disasters don’t interrupt crop and livestock production and consequently food aid might do more harm than good.

Malnutrition DefinedChapter 3

I. Four Types of Malnutrition

OvernutritionSecondary MalnutritionMicronutrient MalnutritionProtein-calorie Malnutrition

OvernutritionWhen a person consumes too many calories, this is the resulting condition.

Secondary MalnutritionWhen a person has a condition or illness that prevents proper digestion or absorption of food.

Micronutrient MalnutritionA diet lacking sufficient amounts of one or more essential micronutrients, such as a vitamin or mineral. (pages 26 &27)

Protein Calorie Malnutrition

The under consumption of calories and protein.

II. Types of edible seedsA. Most of the calories

consumed in the world come from edible seeds either directly or indirectly

B. 2 kinds1. Cereals2. Pulses

II. How much of a nutrient is enough?

A. A normal distribution (p.38) represents a group of people based on how much of a specific nutrient each needs1. The mean is the average requirement

Increasing intake of a given nutrient

Proportion of

individuals

2. The standard deviation (SD) shows how much variation there is from the mean

3. The RDA (recommended daily allowance) for a nutrient is set at 2 standard deviations above the meana. This will cover the requirements of 97.5% of the people in this group

Measuring Undernutrition

Chapter 4

I. Methods of Direct Assessment of Nutritional

StatusClinical Assessment – Physical signs on the body that are symptomatic of nutritional disorders.Biochemical Assessment - comes from an examination of body fluids

Dietary Assessment – from recall or recordAnthropometric Assessment – science of measuring the human body and its parts

II. Impact of Undernutrition on Physical Growth and

DevelopmentLow Height for Age or StuntingLow Weight for Height or WastingLow Weight for Age or UnderweightFat composition of the BodyNature vrs Nurture

III. Anthropometric Assessment

A. Reference groups - Provide a standard against which an individual’s nutritional status can be judged1. A person has a nutritional problem if they are below a certain cut-off point

2. Cut-off points are based on the median

a. Median means half are above and half

are below

Median

50% 50%

3. Percentilea. Measures the percentage of the reference group that is below this pointb. Height at 30th percentile means that 30% of the group is shorter than this individualc. Median is the 50th percentile

IV. Measuring nutritional status in the aggregateA. Draw inferences from a

sample using statistics1. Use info from a subset of the population to infer characteristics of the whole population

B. Use aggregate data on the effects of undernutrition to infer how much undernutrition exists1. High IMR or low birth-weights imply undernutrition in a region2. High morbidity (illness) rates imply the existence of undernutrition

C. Look at food availability to infer the existence of undernutrition1. Food balance sheets estimate human consumption (Table 4.3-p.58)

a. Add up the supply of a specific food = beginning stocks + production + imports

b. Subtract off the amount used for exports & livestock feed & seed & ending stocks

c. What’s left can be assumed to go for human consumption

2. Convert this to calories, and do for all foods, to calculate available calories per capita per day (a widely used measure of malnutrition) (Table 4.3-p.58)

3. This is an average and could mean that some people are consuming above the average and some people are undernourisheda. Studies of individuals need to be done to infer the percentage of the population that has inadequate food intake