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Session 4.2. Situation Analysis Step 6 Estimating Severity of Food Insecurity & Malnutrition. Learning Objectives. After this session, participants should be able to: List various indicators of severity of crisis Explain the meaning and value of the “convergence of evidence” concept
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Session 4.2. Situation Analysis Step 6Estimating Severity of Food Insecurity & Malnutrition
Learning Objectives After this session, participants should be able to: • List various indicators of severity of crisis • Explain the meaning and value of the “convergence of evidence” concept • Describe the “needs” vs. “food basket cost” method of estimating the food access gap
Why estimate severity? • To ring the alarm if need be: we must announce if the situation is severe – or not
How do we determine severity of the situation? Combination and convergence of findings such as: Magnitude: No. of individuals/HHs whose lives & livelihoods are potentially at risk Size of food access or consumption gap Historical comparisons: comparing current population in severe food insecurity with previous situations Increase in mortality rate (beyond norm for area) Acute malnutrition rates Other indicators? 5
The “convergence of evidence” concept Comparing different indicators: a powerful way to determine the severity of a crisis… …particularly when different indicators lead to the same conclusion, show same patterns The difficulty: Multiple sources are used – data only as good as source collecting them 6
Estimating the access gapOne example • Cost of minimum “nutritious” food basket • Example of East Timor
Calculating the cost of the minimum food basket… • Average HH size • Food habits and what constitutes a “nutritional food basket” – including main sources of micronutrients • Sources of HHs’ food • Cost of each food item What information will we need to do this?
Nutritional needs of 7-member family in Dili We need now to figure out what food items can cover these nutritional needs
Minimum cost of nutritious food basket for 7-member family in Dili
Proxy for FoodAccess Gap in Dili HHs earning less than US$ 77.00 per month
Exercise 4.2.The “Minimum Cost Food Basket”: Challenges in Using the Method As a group: • consider the Dili Minimum Cost Food Basket example just presented and discuss: • What factors do you suppose made this method feasible in Dili? • What factors might make this method more challenging? Why?
Consider before calculating the food access deficit: • What is the average household size? • What are the food habits? • Which are the main sources of micronutrients? • From which sources do households obtain their food? (relatively easier to calculate a food access gap in urban areas)