Famines Chapter 2

Famines Are localized, temporary and severe food shortages.

The Irish Potato Famine 72% of Irish people illiterate Income was 60% of level in Britain Two-thirds depend on agriculture for livelihood 40% were landless laborers 1/3 of Irish depended on potato for food Farmers eat 12 lbs of potatoes daily

Potato Famine The potato blight Half of crop destroyed in 1845 Famine 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.

Famines Natural Famines Created by government policy The Ukraine Famine Chinese Great Leap Forward Famine of Recent Famines North Korea Southern Africa

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

Malnutrition Defined Chapter 3

I. Four Types of Malnutrition Overnutrition Secondary Malnutrition Micronutrient Malnutrition Protein-calorie Malnutrition

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

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

Micronutrient Malnutrition A 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 seeds A. Most of the calories consumed in the world come from edible seeds either directly or indirectly B. 2 kinds 1. Cereals 2. 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 needs 1. 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 mean a. 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 Status Clinical 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 record Anthropometric Assessment – science of measuring the human body and its parts

II. Impact of Undernutrition on Physical Growth and Development Low Height for Age or Stunting Low Weight for Height or Wasting Low Weight for Age or Underweight Fat composition of the Body Nature vrs Nurture

III. Anthropometric Assessment A. Reference groups - Provide a standard against which an individual’s nutritional status can be judged 1. 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

3. Percentile a. Measures the percentage of the reference group that is below this point b. Height at 30 th percentile means that 30% of the group is shorter than this individual c. Median is the 50 th percentile

IV. Measuring nutritional status in the aggregate A. Draw inferences from a sample using statistics 1. 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 exists 1. High IMR or low birth-weights imply undernutrition in a region 2. High morbidity (illness) rates imply the existence of undernutrition

C. Look at food availability to infer the existence of undernutrition 1. 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 undernourished a. Studies of individuals need to be done to infer the percentage of the population that has inadequate food intake