Nutrition Manual for Humanitarian Action

The image of armed confl ict often evokes visions of malnutrition arising from deliberate starvation
policies, neglect, or the helplessness of parties to the confl ict to cope with the humanitarian
consequences of war.
For decades now, nutritional action has been confi ned to the immediate response to malnutrition.
Food aid and nutritional rehabilitation have been the humanitarian reaction to major crises, based
on a simple equation:
crisis = food shortage = malnutrition.
This simplistic view did not shed light on either the causes or the mechanisms of crisis.
This Manual departs from such a restrictive view. The author approaches nutrition from two
different angles, from which he derives practical recommendations for humanitarian action.
The fi rst provides an in-depth understanding of nutrition, based on a coherent range of information
on the notions of nutritional need and food intake that goes beyond the usual checklists on these
topics. The social dimensions of food are likewise discussed thoroughly, avoiding the pitfall of
strictly quantitative analysis. This fi rst part provides the scientifi c basis of the Manual.
The second angle contemplates nutrition at its broadest. It demonstrates the interrelations between
nutrition and other relevant sectors, notably the economy. It places nutrition within the legal
framework set by international humanitarian law (IHL); as such, it reminds humanitarian operators
that the operational response to nutritional disorder is not simply technical, but also pertains to the
protection of the victims’ rights to have access to food in times of confl ict.
From these two angles, the author analyses the impact of armed confl ict at all levels: human,
political, economic, ecological, social, cultural, and physiological. Vulnerability is examined at all
these levels. This section provides the keystone of the Manual because it provides the link with the
need for integrated approaches in recommended responses.
This overall approach guides the reader through the chapters devoted to the “classic” nutritional
action types, namely general food distributions and nutritional rehabilitation. The author discusses
them in terms of planning: is such action required and, if so, how should it be carried out?
Questioning the need for general food distributions encourages humanitarian operators to examine
their relevance in terms of context and alternative forms of response, thus leading naturally to a
multidisciplinary analysis.
The discussion on the practical implementation of general food distributions and nutritional
rehabilitation programmes rests upon the scientifi c basis described in previous chapters, lending
additional credibility to the recommended procedures.
The author shares his personal fi eld experience with readers, and has connected scientifi c theory
and practice – he thereby provides nutritional operations with a professional basis, which should
become the standard in humanitarian action.
All humanitarian operators involved in nutrition should read, but above all study, this Manual.