NUTRITION IN EMERGENCY by Sanjana Nair

NUTRITION IN EMERGENCY

INDEX 1. INTRODUCTION 2. EARTHQUAKE 3. DROUGHT 4. WAR 5. SUMMARY

INTRODUCTION Millions of people are affected by natural and man-made disasters each year. You run the risk of suffering bodily harm or death in a disaster. Additionally, you may lose your community, possessions, and home. Such stressors place you in danger for close to home and actual medical conditions. The effect can frequently be felt physically, mentally, and emotionally at the individual level. Cataclysmic events cause individual injury or disease. The deficiency of assets, security and admittance to safe house can prompt enormous populace relocations in lesser-created nations

But do such devastation translate into a food and/or nutrition crisis? Hence the urgency of mobilizing needs assessment teams to define the actual food, nutrition, health, and other needs of affected people.

NUTRITIONAL PRIORITIES There are four essential considerations that need to be made if life and health are to be preserved during a natural disaster: 1) that people drink enough water, 2) that they eat enough food (with energy coming first, followed by protein and water-soluble vitamins), 3) that their food is safe (clean), and 4) that they do as much physical activity as they can.

The priority ought to be, in particular, securing the minimum levels of water and energy that are required from the moment aid is distributed to emergency shelters following a natural disaster.

EARTHQ

QUAKE

THE GREAT EAST JAPAN EARTHQUAKE Numerous continental and oceanic plates meet in the region where the Japanese archipelago is situated, resulting in frequent earthquakes. In the past, devastating earthquakes and tsunamis have struck a lot of the country. Over 100,000 people perished in the worst earthquake in Japanese history, the Great Kanto Earthquake, which struck the Kanto plain around Tokyo.

The food provided to the survivors consisted of canned food, bread, crackers, and nutritional supplements were provided in the initial days following an earthquake. Oatmeal, stew, and instant food can also be made using boiling water a few days after the earthquake. The victims' quality of life was greatly impacted by symptoms of the digestive system.

Despite the well-managed construction of the temporary shelter's toilets and water supply, survivors were dissatisfied with the food assistance provided. The majority of the food provided by local organizations and volunteers consisted of carbohydrates in the form of cold rice balls or bread, with the exception of warm food (mostly meat) cooked outdoors and provided by the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF)

The survivors may have experienced gastrointestinal symptoms as a result of eating diets that were out of balanceThe victims ranged in age from 9 to 88 years, with a mean age of 52. Sixty-six (28%) of the participants reduced their food intake, and fifty-four (23%) lost weight. Symptoms of the digestive system were reported by sixty subjects, or 25%. Constipation (25, or 10 percent), decreased appetite (14, or 6.4 percent), vomiting (14, or 6.4 percent), and nausea (5, or 2.1 percent) were the primary symptoms.

Multiple factors, such as difficulty sleeping, anxiety, inactivity, and the discomfort of living in temporary shelters, may have contributed to the occurrence of gastrointestinal symptoms. Based on their evaluation, the authors believe that unbalanced diets may be a significant cause of gastrointestinal symptoms. Since the evacuees primarily consumed carbohydrate-based foods like rice balls, bread, and noodles, nutrient deficiency, particularly vitamins B and C, and protein deficiency should be taken into consideration over the long term

Q & A

Fill the pyramid according to the nutritional priorities in emergency

drinking enough water, consuming enough calories, consuming enough protein, vitamins, physical activities

DROU

UGHT

DROUGHT IN ETHOPIA A Survey was done of Harerghe Province, Ethiopia, in the middle of 1974 to confirm earlier reports of severe drought effects. Each of the nine three-man survey teams had a member who spoke the local language. The team was left overnight in the settlement after a preliminary overflight to inspect distant fields and livestock. Until it was determined that the teams were competent to conduct their own observations, they were overseen by an expert in anthropometric methods. In younger children low food intakes may result from many causes, including a higher incidence of severe infections, failure of lactation and weaning, even if adequate amounts of food are available to the family. Many pastoral groups' remaining livestock holdings were reduced to the point where they were unlikely to survive another dry season without assistance. Many pastoral Ogaden groups at the time of the survey said that they were living as much as they could on milk because they thought grain prices would drop with the harvest. This observation was also made prior to the drought. Famine would occur if food was not distributed. Instead of grain held over from previous harvests, Somali farmers typically rely on cattle as their primary source of drought protection.

According to the families that were questioned, starvation as a result of a lack of milk and cereals was the primary cause of death, and it's possible that some of the babies died as a result of not being able to breastfeed. There was no record of an epidemic disease

The marginal areas (12.6%) and S. Ogaden (10.9%) had the highest prevalence of malnutrition, while the 'Issa desert had the lowest prevalence (8.2%). Oedema was uncommon (0.8%, grades 2 and 3, all strata combined). The normal nutritional status of the population and the time at which observations are made influence the prevalence of malnutrition brought on by a lack of food. The anthropometric results showed that the majority of agricultural groups and about half of the pastoral groups' children had unusually low nutritional statuses, which was supported by the fact that the pastoral groups with the worst nutrition were in locations that were unusual for the season. The drought had resulted in a very high rate of human mortality, and the majority of livestock had perished

Q & A

Which of the following foods are disaster friendly?

WAR IN LEBANON As Lebanon struggles to recover from a confluence of crises that have pushed the majority of its population into poverty, a new national nutrition survey on children and women under the age of five paints an alarming picture of the country's malnutrition, which is marked by significant food and nutrition insecurity, poor health and nutrition practices, and a lack of access to high-quality services.

An estimated 200,000 children under the age of five suffer from a form of malnutrition, including anemia, stunting, and wasting, according to the data gathered from 3,550 children and 9,200 women of reproductive age. According to the survey, 7% of children are stunted, or too short for their age, which is a sign of chronic malnutrition and 41% of children suffer from some form of anemia.

In Lebanon, 70% of children are not exclusively breastfed. While over 60% of newborns begin breastfeeding at an early age, only 47% of children continue to breastfeed until they are 23 months old.Over 94% of children between the ages of 6 and 23 months do not consume the minimum recommended diet for their health, growth, and development. Vitamin A and proteins are insufficient in the diets of 60% of children, 80% of children skip Minimum Meal Frequency4, and 70% of children's diets are not well-diversified across the five food groups. Nearly eighty percent of Lebanon's children do not consume foods high in protein or vitamin A.

15 partner organizations have actively participated in the delivery of coordinated essential nutrition interventions to address Lebanon's growing nutritional requirements as part of the Nutrition Sector Response to date. 30,009 children received micronutrient supplements in 2021, and 2,240 children who were severely malnourished received subsidized treatment, including 1,520 who were moderately acutely malnourished (MAM) and 720 who were severely acutely malnourished (SAM). A nationwide Infant and Young Child Feeding campaign and an IYCF hotline have been implemented in conjunction with the parliamentary Women and Children committee, MOPH, and more than 60 partners to increase outreach, referral, and counseling across the nation.

Q & A

According to you what improvements can be made to the food provided to the survivers ? Emergency situations like war and natural disasters always have an adverse effect on the human population. All the necessities- shelter, food, and water - to live a comfortable life become scarce. In such situations, preparedness and help from all the available resources are the best to handle emergency situations. Saving excess foods from restaurants instead of wasting them. Planning out such food banks in disaster-prone areas could be a huge relief for the population affected. Along with planning for the future, any help from other regions not affected by the disaster is also a huge relief. We have observed this before in cases like floods in Uttarakhand and Kerala where people from all over the country helped the survivors by sending money, clothes, and Packed non-perishable food. A similar case was seen during the Gujarat earthquakes. The pandemic due to covid also saw the rise of food relief funds where people provided the resources to help the ones most affected by covid.

SUMMARY The two goals of nutrition in emergencies (NiE) are: protecting people's right to food and preventing deaths. People who have been malnourished prior to the emergency are more likely to become ill and die when disaster strikes. Poor sanitation, a lack of access to health services, and a lack of food or only inadequate access to food and water put the communities affected by the emergency at risk of malnutrition as well. Given the circumstances, how can we guarantee a diet that is suitable? Provide 3 or 4 kg of food per person per week to any population group that is or appears to be at high nutritional risk as an immediate measure. Even if the diet isn't balanced, providing a sufficient amount of energy is crucial at this stage.For a brief time, consuming 1700 Kcal per day will prevent severe nutritional decline and famine

. Food supplies for disasters typically lack vegetables, oil, and protein. The disasters cause a significant amount of medical and pharmaceutical records, drug history handbooks, and medical histories of interventions to be destroyed, making it challenging for the medical relief team to select the appropriate medications to administer. Controlling persistent infections like diabetes mellitus and hypertension becomes difficult because these infections are strongly linked to daily weight control plans

As a result, education for meal preparation staff and other relevant parties is required to implement measures to prevent food poisoning and the spread of infectious gastroenteritis.

BY AYUSHI GANATRA- EARTHQUAKE RAKESH PAUL - DROUGHT PRITI JADHAV - WAR NAZISH KHAN - INTRO, SUMMARY & PUZZZELS SANJANA NAIR - FORMATTING & EDITING