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Food and Nutrition

Nutrition and Food Security

Ensuring that people have access to adequate food and safe water is essential for protecting the safety, health and well-being of refugees and other populations of concern. For this reason, UNHCR strives to improve the nutritional status of all the people it serves - mostly women and children.

The right to freedom from hunger and malnutrition is also backed by international conventions, as is the right to the highest standards of health and health care. Moreover, the goals of ensuring that forcibly displaced people have access to adequate health services, food security, water and improved nutrition are included in UNHCR's Global Strategic Objectives for 2008-2012.

The UN refugee agency works to achieve these targets, as well as the goal of ensuring international nutrition standards for all people of concern, through strategic funding and by working in partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP) and other governmental and non-governmental partners.

UNHCR, which is the lead agency in coordinating refugee nutrition, has also identified essential packages to improve services for populations in need in the areas of nutrition and micronutrients as well as related areas such as reproductive health, malaria and child survival.

In addition, greater emphasis and resources are being put into building the capacity of UNHCR and its partners through training, standard guidelines, strategic plans and additional staffing, coordination and appropriate programme practices.

There is a clear link between nutrition and public health. Communicable diseases brought on in part by malnutrition are responsible for millions of preventable deaths each year. Mass population movements can result in high rates of malnutrition, sickness and death. Shortage of food also makes people more vulnerable to sexual abuse and exploitation. For those UNHCR serves who are living with chronic illnesses, in particular HIV/AIDS, adequate nutrition is vital in maintaining an individual's immune system.

UNHCR monitors the nutrition of people of concern through the Health Information System, regular surveys and nutrition-related databases.

Nutrition and Food Security on the Web

Innovations in therapeutic foods for treatment of severe acute malnutrition:
www.nutriset.fr
For more information on global policies and strategies:

http://www.unscn.org

www.wfp.org

www.unicef.org/nutrition
For more information on infant and young child feeding:

www.who.int/nutrition/topics/infantfeeding/en
For databases on idine deficency disordes, anemia and vit A deficency:
www.who.int/vmnis/en
For more information on nutrition and HIV:

www.who.int/nutrition/topics/hivaids
NutVal 2006
Download a spreadsheet application for the planning, calculation and monitoring of the nutritional value of general food rations. Developed on behalf of the World Food Programme and the UN refugee agency by the Institute of Child Health