How to Protect and Promote the Nutrition of Mothers and Children : Case Studies in Latin America and the Caribbean

World Bank

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ACUTE MALNUTRITION;    ADEQUATE NUTRITION;    ADOLESCENT GIRLS;    ADOLESCENTS;    AGED;   

RP-ID  :  74300

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

The nutrition cluster is a veryimportant entity to coordinate actions during emergencies.It is important that the nutrition cluster know in advancewhich institutions work where and what kind of inputs arepre-positioned. Risk management plans need to be ready atthe local level in advance of emergencies. Althoughemergencies occur every year in Guatemala, the emergencyresponse often fails to incorporate the management ofmalnutrition among its priority actions. Community programs,like AIN-C (a community- based child care program - atencionintegral a la ninez comunitaria), can be an efficientmechanism to protect young children's nutrition andprovide an important channel for the government or otherassistance agencies to funnel support to communities in needduring a period of crisis or emergency. This is becausecommunity workers know the families and those who are mostvulnerable; they are willing to be called upon to help theircommunity; and they can provide educational support tofamilies to ensure rapid recovery among young children.Community-based growth promotion programs such as AIN-C canbe strengthened and scaled up, and they are a goodinvestment, in the aftermath of an emergency or during atime of economic crisis, to swiftly deliver services toaffected families. Community agents can carry importantinformation to the community and can distribute food,nutrition and health supplements such as micronutrientpowders and oral rehydration salts for young children, aswell as hygiene and water purification products. Communitykitchens are an efficient approach to reduce hunger amongthe poor during times of high economic stress. They providea social safety net and can have a nutrition effect whencarefully planned. Community kitchens adjust to the labormarket and general economic conditions; hence targeting ofthe poor and most in need through community kitchens isself-selective. The kitchens can expand and shrink asparticipants continually assess the trade-off between unpaidwork in exchange for free or inexpensive meals and thepursuit of opportunities in the labor market.