Malnutrition in Emergencies: The Determinants and Policy Implications of Malnutrition in Darfur, Sudan.
Moussa, Soha.
2015
-
Abstract: This
dissertation focuses on investigating the causes of malnutrition in the crisis-affected
region of Darfur, Sudan, on exploring the relationship between household headship and
food security and on examining the role of care in determining malnutrition in
emergencies. For the first two papers it uses data from Sudan's joint
WFP/UNICEF/CDC/Ministry of Health annual Emergency Food ... read moreSecurity and Nutrition
Assessments between 2005 and 2007, the third paper is a review of the literature. Most
previous analyses of the nutritional situation in Darfur have focused on the prevalence
rates of wasting and paid limited attention to its causes. The first dissertation paper
aims to provide a causal analysis of child wasting in Darfur. It identifies predictors
of wasting and assesses how these differed between 2005 and 2007, and across different
categories of crisis-affected populations (internally displaced people (IDPs) living in
camps, IDPs living within the host community, and the resident population). Results show
that wasting increased between 2005 and 2007 in all categories of displacement, despite
improvements in access to clean water, sanitation and many health outcomes. The
predictors of wasting were not universal however: they changed from year to year and
varied from one vulnerable group to another. The second dissertation paper analyzes the
relation between household headship and food consumption in Darfur as it had been
subject to demographic alterations due to the conflict. The results show that men-headed
households (MHH) owned more assets than women-headed households (WHH), spent a lower
share of their expenditures on food and had better dietary diversity scores. This
relative poverty of WHH translated into poorer dietary diversity only in the displaced
de jure WHH whether living in camps or with the community. Results also show that subtle
differences in the determinants of consumption exist among the different categories of
headship (MHH, de jure WHH and de facto WHH) and depending on their displacement status.
The third dissertation paper reviews the effect of displacement on maternal mental
health (mothers being the primary responsible for child care provision), the relation
between maternal mental health and child malnutrition, and in this light, the effect of
complex emergencies on the care of children. Malnutrition is a complex consequence of
inadequacies in food, health, and care and the concept of care remains the least studied
of all three. It finds enough evidence that maternal mental health directly affects the
care dimension and consequently the other related causes of malnutrition. Needs
assessment and relief programs should take into consideration subtle differences among
groups usually labeled as vulnerable and be flexible enough to change with time.
Analysis of malnutrition should also go beyond the usual analysis of food and health and
give the care dimension the attention it
deserves.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Tufts University, 2015.
Submitted to the Dept. of Food Policy & Applied Nutrition.
Advisor: Patrick Webb.
Committee: Jennifer Coates, and Helen Young.
Keywords: Nutrition, and Social research.read less - ID:
- mw22vj307
- Component ID:
- tufts:20462
- To Cite:
- TARC Citation Guide EndNote
