Famines

1
Famines

• Chapter 2

2
Famines

• Are localized, temporary and severe food
  shortages.

3
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

4
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.

5
Famines

• Natural Famines
• Created by government policy
• The Ukraine Famine 1932-1933
• Chinese Great Leap Forward Famine of 1959-1961
• Recent Famines
• North Korea
• Southern Africa

6
When Food Aid is Not Needed

• Box 2.3 Page 22
• Some natural disasters dont interrupt crop and
  livestock production and consequently food aid
  might do more harm than good.

7
Malnutrition Defined

• Chapter 3

8
I. Four Types of Malnutrition

• Overnutrition
• Secondary Malnutrition
• Micronutrient Malnutrition
• Protein-calorie Malnutrition

9
Overnutrition

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

10
Secondary Malnutrition

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

11
Micronutrient Malnutrition

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

12
Protein Calorie Malnutrition

• The under consumption of calories and protein.

13
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

14
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

15
Increasing intake of a given nutrient
Proportion of individuals
16

• 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

17
Measuring Undernutrition

• Chapter 4

18
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

19

• Dietary Assessment from recall or record
• Anthropometric Assessment science of measuring
  the human body and its parts

20
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

21
III. Anthropometric Assessment

• A. Reference groups - Provide a standard against
  which an individuals nutritional status can be
  judged
• 1. A person has a nutritional problem if they
  are below a certain cut-off point

22

• 2. Cut-off points are based on the median
• a. Median means half are above and half are
  below

23

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

24
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

25

• 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

26

• 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

27

• b. Subtract off the amount used for exports
  livestock feed seed ending stocks
• c. Whats left can be assumed to go for human
  consumption

28

• 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)

29

• 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