Impact of food security situation
on vulnerable children in Yemen
World Food Programme (WFP)- Yemen
UNICEF Symposium on child poverty
What is food security?
• Food security refers to the
availability of food and one's access
to it.
• A household is considered food
secure when its occupants do not live
in hunger or fear of starvation
*
Formal definition
“ It is the ability of a household to produce
and/or access the minimum food at all
times needed for a healthy and active life.
A household is described as food insecure
when it is unable to meet such needs at
all times.”
Nutrition security
• If a household has access to enough food
to satisfy its needs, this does not
necessarily mean that all the members
achieve adequate nutritional status.
• Food still needs to be distributed within
the family in a way that meets the
nutritional needs of each of the individual
family members.
Why is nutrition important?
• Undernourishment negatively affects people’s
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•
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•
health,
productivity,
sense of hope and
overall well-being.
•
•
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•
•
stunt growth,
slow thinking,
sap energy,
hinder fetal development and
contribute to mental retardation.
• A lack of food can:
• Poor nutrition and calorie deficiencies cause nearly one in three
people to die prematurely or have disabilities
• Economically, the constant securing of food consumes valuable time
and energy of poor people, allowing less time for work and earning
income.
• Socially, the lack of food erodes relationships and feeds shame so
that those most in need of support are often least able to call on it.
When is food and nutrition
security most important?
 The window of opportunity lies from prepregnancy to around 24 months of a
child's age.
 If not the vicious cycle of malnutrition can
continue through generations
Pre-crisis figures
46 percent of children under-5 are moderately to
severely underweight
– 12 percent are severely or moderate acute
malnourished, or seriously below weight for one’s
height, and
– 53 percent are moderately to severely stunted, or
seriously below normal height for one’s age.
– In 2005, about 86,000 million children died before
they reached their fifth birthday
– Every year, more than 32 percent of the babies are
born with low-birth weight.
Food Security
Percentage of sample
Food
Security
Level
Severely Food
Insecure
Total Urban Rural
Rural
Central/
Northern
Highland
Tihama
Plain
South
Coast
Middle
Plateau
18%
13%
20%
4%
4%
9%
64%
25%
Moderately
Food Insecure
29%
23%
32%
11%
18%
31%
Food Secure
58%
57%
64%
73%
73%
6%
57%
Severely Food Insecure: One or more members did not eat for an entire day for lack of food.
Moderate Food Insecure: One or more members skipped a meal in the day for lack of food.
Weekly Consumption
Frequency
Percentage of sample
Food Type
Percentage of households who consume
item less than three times/week
Urban
Cereal
Rural
<1%
<1%
8%
9%
10%
9%
Vegetables
58%
72%
Meat
81%
76%
Dairy
84%
76%
Pulses
89%
78%
Fruits
98%
97%
Oil
Sugar
Food Consumption
Score (FSC)
Percentage of sample
Food
Consumption
Total
Urban
Rural
Rural
Central/
Northern
Highland
Tihama
Plain
South
Coast
Middle
Plateau
2006
2008
Poor
9%
24% 18%
28%
24%
6%
10%
71%
Borderline
15% 35% 44%
31%
41%
32%
26%
27%
Adequate
76% 40% 38%
41%
35%
62%
65%
2%
*Unless otherwise indicated, data from 2008 Rapid assessment survey
Expenses of Average
Households
Percentage of sample
Total
Urban
Rural
Central/
Northern
Highland
Expense
Food
Rural
Tihama
Plain
South
Coast
65%
67%
65%
64%
7%
4%
7%
8%
9%
7%
1%
18%
17%
19%
17%
24%
13%
16%
Transport
3%
5%
5%
5%
5%
7%
4%
Education
2%
3%
2%
2%
2%
4%
2%
Rent
5%
3%
2%
4%
Qat
Health
59% 66%
Middle
Plateau
-
4%
77%
-
•95% reported that expenditures had increased since the previous year
•78% had contracted new debts in the past 6 months: of which 51% had
been towards purchase of food and 25% to cover health costs
Expenditure of food
Percentage of sample
• Share of food expenditure over total household
expenditure:
– 65 % of the households’ expenditure is spent of food,
this result shows a worsening trend and brings the
food expenditure in Yemen in the range of the least
developed countries (such as Somalia).
• Shifting to less preferred and less expensive
foods (90% percent of the surveyed households),
followed by limiting the portion size at the meal time.
• Buying food on credit
Coping Mechanism
Percentage of sample
Consumption Patterns
• 97% of households did not have enough
money for food and other basic essentials
• 33% reported that at least one family
member had to skip meals for an entire
day over the past month
• 74% reported that adults had limited their
own consumption to meet food needs of
their children
Coping Mechanism
Percentage of sample
Economic Issues
• 66% had to borrow or rely on assistance from friends or
relatives
• 9% had incurred debt
Livelihood issues
• 9% sold domestic non-productive assets (ie. radio, carpet)
• 33 % sought alternative or additional jobs
• 5% of households reported increase in out-migration for
work and/or food
• 11% of livestock herders had to sell more animals than
usual to meet expenses
Coping Mechanism
Percentage of sample
Other Expenditures
• 10% of farmers consumed seed stocks reserved
for the following year and decreased their
expenditures on farm inputs (fertilizer, fodder
etc.)
• 39% of all households reported decreased
expenditures on health
• 21% took children out of school
Main shocks effecting
population over past 6 months
Percentage of sample
According to HH surveyed:
• 53% considered higher food prices as their main
shock
• 23% listed health problems
• 17% listed unemployment
Note: Fuel/transportation costs and natural hazards (such as
drought) were not considered issues of major concern
What can be done?
• Promotion of breastfeeding;
• Strategies to promote complementary feeding,
with or without provision of food supplements;
• Micronutrient interventions;
• General supportive strategies to improve family
and community nutrition; and
• Reduction of disease burden (promotion of hand
washing and strategies to reduce the burden of
malaria in pregnancy).
What needs to be done in
addition?
Improvements in the underlying
determinants of undernutrition, such as:
• Poverty
• Lack of agricultural production
• Poor education
• Disease burden
• Lack of women's empowerment