Biomedical subjects

Nutrition Service of the World Food Program

Publications and source records attributed to Nutrition Service of the World Food Program.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Food for nutrition: mainstreaming nutrition in WFP.

Most preventable deaths among hungry people take place outside of emergency contexts. In countries not involved in conflicts or natural disasters malnutrition is directly implicated in the deaths of millions of children and mothers each year. Thus, WFP's great efforts focused on saving lives in emergencies should be mirrored by efforts aimed at tackling malnutrition, and hence saving lives, beyond emergencies as well. While food sufficiency is not the same as good nutrition, food is nevertheless an important part of the nutrition equation. New scientific evidence confirms that it is possible to have positive nutritional impacts with food aid. Consistent with Strategic Priority No. 3, WFP seeks to use food resources to achieve nutritional impacts in three complementary ways: a) enhancing the effectiveness and impact of targeted mother and child health and nutrition interventions (MCHN) that combine food and appropriate nonfood inputs; b) enhancing the nutritional value of WFP food (for instance, through micronutrient fortification); and c) enhancing the nutritional impact of other WFP (non-MCHN) interventions. These approaches represent a mainstreaming of nutrition across WFP's activities. Adoption of evidence-based programming, joint interventions with partners, and new project designs offer the promise of greater WFP effectiveness and impact in the coming years.

Developing Countries↗

PubMed2006

Nutrition in emergencies: WFP experiences and challenges.

WFP and its partners have made significant strides in the last decade towards tackling malnutrition in emergencies. Since malnutrition is an important determinant of mortality, food interventions play a key role in saving lives through their impact on the nutrition and health of affected populations. Humanitarian interventions aiming to prevent the deterioration, or promote recovery, of nutritional status have to be carefully tailored to the nature of each crisis and seek to address underlying causes. There are three elements crucial to successful action: Ensuring that a nutritionally-appropriate food basket is formulated to meet local needs, that it arrives on time and in coordinated fashion (not one commodity one month, another the next). Some food commodities are needed in small amounts (iodized salt and fortified blended foods) but their inclusion and delivery are often critical to positive nutrition outcomes. The importance of micronutrients in achieving the goals of emergency operations is increasingly well-understood and there is evidence of the need for greater use of fortified foods than in the past. Coupling food with essential nonfood inputs is important in nutrition programming. Cash resources are required by WFP for a variety of nutrition and public health activities, including local milling/fortification of cereals, local procurement of fortified blended foods, and support for complementary activities such as nutrition education, training, and deworming. An ability to offer sustained improvements in nutrition will depend on strong collaboration with partners skilled in nutrition and public health, including information management. Better linking of emergency programming with nonemergency activities is required so that underlying processes contributing to serious malnutrition are effectively tackled in the long run.

Developing Countries↗

PubMed2006

Micronutrient fortification: WFP experiences and ways forward.

Micronutrient deficiencies represent a largely invisible, but often devastating, form of malnutrition that is particularly prevalent among WFP's beneficiary populations already lacking sufficient food. Known effects of micronutrient deficiencies include impaired physical and mental growth among children, iron-deficiency anemia, maternal mortality, low adult labor productivity and blindness. WFP makes important, often pioneering contributions to overcoming such deficiencies through: Careful attention to micronutrients in needs assessment and ration planning, Delivering fortified foods, particularly to nutritionally-vulnerable groups, on an increasingly large scale, Promotion and use of locally-produced and fortified commodities in more than a dozen low income, food deficit countries, Advocacy for fortification at national and international policy levels. Important activities in local processing and fortification have recently taken place in countries like Zambia, Angola, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and in the context of the regional southern Africa drought emergency. Each case demonstrates that where micronutrient deficiencies are an operational concern local fortification is possible, albeit challenging. Several ongoing assessments of the impact of such initiatives suggest important nutritional benefits. That said, challenges remain in terms of technical and managerial capacity constraints, the need for systematic compliance with procurement specifications and quality control, clearer policies on micronutrient content labeling, and the need for cash resources to support many aspects associated with local processing and fortification activities.

Cost-Benefit Analysis↗