The Humanitarian Health Evidence Review

CONTEXT:

• Need to better understand the aetiology of malnutrition and famines in different contexts (e.g. urban areas).
• Need more analysis of the impact of contextual factors on famine and malnutrition (e.g. anthropological studies on the power of women in society).
• Need evidence to guide how to intervene in low GAM prevalence settings and/or in middle income countries.

IMPACT ASSESSMENT:

• Need to test different monitoring tools, techniques, and new technologies to measure progress and impact of nutrition programmes.
• Need evidence on cost-effectiveness of nutrition interventions.
• Need evidence on impact of IYCF interventions.

TARGETING SPECIFIC GROUPS:

• Focus on infants, people with disabilities, and the elderly.

PREVENTION/MANAGEMENT OF MODERATE ACUTE MALNUTRITION (MAM):

• Search alternatives to BSFP (i.e. Cash transfer vs. RUF distribution, food security intervention vs. RUF). Is it appropriate in all contexts?
• Research on long-term effects of interventions (i.e. long-term effects of blanket distribution of lipid based supplement); need to think about the double burden of malnutrition
• Research focusing on stunting.

TREATMENT OF SAM:

• Health service delivery: what is the most effective way of delivering nutritional programmes? For example, community health workers or health facilities (i.e. research on Community Case Management (CCM))?
• Long-terms effect of RUF on anthropometric status, cognitive development, risk of relapse etc.

Note: These recommendations are also in line with some of the recommendations identified by the authors of the Lancet series on Maternal and Child Nutrition in June 2013 (although non emergency context specific) such as the need for evidence: i) on long-term benefits of breastfeeding on nutritional and developmental outcomes, ii) on the effectiveness of complementary feeding strategies, iii) for prevention and management strategies for moderate acute malnutrition in population settings, especially in infants younger than six months, iv) and on innovative delivery strategies.