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Life-cycle focus: Adulthood

Adults: Assessment of Nutritional Status in Emergency-Affected Populations

This RNIS (Refugee Nutrition Information System) supplement describes simple techniques suitable for the assessment of the nutritional status of adults aged 20-60 years in emergency-affected populations. The BMI (Body Mass Index), MUAC (Mid-upper Arm Circumference), and clinical models are assessed for their usefulness in determining the prevalence of...

Published in 2000, by UN Standing Committee on Nutrition

El derecho a la salud - OACDH Folleto informativo No. 31

El presente Folleto informativo tiene por objeto arrojar luz sobre el lugar que ocupa actualmente el derecho a la salud en las normas internacionales de derechos humanos, teniendo en cuenta la gran cantidad de iniciativas y propuestas respecto de lo que el derecho a la salud puede o debe ser. Por consiguiente, no se pretende ofrecer una lista exhaustiva de...

Published in 2008, by OACDH - OHCHR, OMS - WHO

Food and nutrition

This chapter, presents the problems of undernutrition and overnutrition that affect infants and young children under the age of 2 years, manifesting as stunting and anemia. Article published in the publication Health in the Americas, PAHO, 2002.

Published in 2002, by PAHO

Fourth Report on the World Nutrition Situation Nutrition throughout the Life Cycle

The Fourth Report on the World Nutrition Situation is part of a series of ACC/SCN reports initiated in the mid-1980s on the nutritional status of populations in developing countries. While earlier reports have focused on regional trends in preschool undernutrition, this report is built around the theme nutrition throughout the life cycle. This change was...

Published in 2000, by UN Standing Committee on Nutrition

Harvestplus Crop strategy

HarvestPlus est un Challenge Program du Groupe consultatif pour la recherche agricole internationale (CGIAR), une alliance au niveau mondial qui mobilise la science pour aider les populations pauvres. HarvestPlus estime qu’en augmentant la teneur en micronutriments des aliments de base consommés à chaque repas, les cultures biofortifiées pourraient...

Published in 2011, by Harvestplus

Identifying, evaluating, and treating overweight and obesity in adults

National Institutes of Health (NIH) of the United States of America recently cooperated on the production of a guide to identifying, evaluating, and treating overweight and obesity in adults. The guide is mainly intended for such health care practitioners as primary care physicians, nurses, registered dietitians, and nutritionists, to help them provide their...

Published in 2001, by PAHO - OPS

Insight: Why stunting matters

This technical brief discusses the negative effects of stunting and the steps we can take to prevent them. It is the second in a series of technical briefs that address the continuum of care for good infant and young child feeding, from initiation of early and exclusive breastfeeding through complementary feeding in later infancy and the second year of life....

Published in 2010, by Alive & Thrive

Management of Severe Malnutrition: A Manual for Physicians and Other Senior Health Workers

This manual provides guidelines for the treatment of severely malnourished children (below 5 years of age) in hospitals and health centres. The treatment of severely malnourished adolescents and adults is also briefly considered. The manual is intended for health personnel working at central and district level, including physicians, nurses, midwives and auxiliaries.

Published in 1999, by WHO

Nutrition Policy Discussion Paper No 01 - Nutrition Education: A State-of-the-art Review

How well or poorly does nutrition education work? Does it deal better with some nutrition problems than with others? Do some kinds of nutrition education produce better results than other kinds? These are the sorts of questions addressed by Dr. Robert Hornik and a panel of distinguished discussants in the pages that follow. From their answers emerges a...

Published in 1985, by UN Standing Committee on Nutrition

Nutrition Policy Discussion Paper No 03 - The Prevention and Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders

This paper is the third in the ACC/SCN's State-of-the-Art series. Like the two previous papers, on nutrition education and control of vitamin A deficiency, it provides information to assist decisions on policies and programmes to prevent widespread nutritional problems. Iodine deficiency is one of these, affecting some 200 million people. Yet science and...

Published in 1988, by UN Standing Committee on Nutrition

Nutrition Policy Discussion Paper No 04 - Women's Role in Food Chain Activities and the Implications for Nutrition

We hope that the wide-ranging information herein will further the crucially important cause of women, specifically in relation to nutrition, in several ways. First, women's central role in providing for adequate nutrition - of families, communities, and indeed nations - in being described here in detail should help to give increased prominence to the need...

Published in 1989, by UN Standing Committee on Nutrition

Nutrition Policy Discussion Paper No 06 - Women and Nutrition

Women, throughout most of the world, have the major responsibility for their families' nutrition. Their own nutrition is often impaired, under the social and biological stresses they face. Developments that improve women's position in society are likely to improve nutrition overall, and are essential for this. Equally, any activities aimed at preventing...

Published in 1990, by UN Standing Committee on Nutrition

Nutrition Policy Discussion Paper No 07 - Appropriate Uses of Anthropometric Indices in Children

The use of anthropometry has increased rapidly in recent years. With this wider use, it has become even more important that the interpretation of results, for the individual and for populations, should be correct and well understood. I requested the Advisory Group on Nutrition at its first meeting in 1988 to help to define the issues. This led to the AGN...

Published in 1990, by UN Standing Committee on Nutrition

Nutrition Policy Discussion Paper No 09 - Controlling Iron Deficiency

Iron deficiency anaemia is the most common nutritional disorder in the world, affecting particularly pregnant and lactating women and pre-school children. Supplementation with ferrous sulphate tablets (often including folic acid) is efficacious but problems exist with effectiveness of large scale programmes in developing countries. Nonetheless, improvement...

Published in 1991, by UN Standing Committee on Nutrition

SCN News No 03 - Does Cash Cropping Affect Nutrition

Food first, or agriculture for export? Does growing food protect nutrition, whereas cash-cropping cause famines? Are subsistence farmers lured into the cash economy, growing inedible crops and then finding themselves unable to feed their families? Based on recent research and new thinking, some tentative answers to such questions are now being found.

Published in 1989, by UN Standing Committee on Nutrition

SCN News No 04 - Update on the Nutrition Situation

This issue of SCN News gives an update on the nutrition situation - Latest data from 33 countries show diverse trends. Drought and debt crises regularly hit the headlines. Success stories have a poorer press. What is actually happening to nutrition in countries in the developing world? Is the "silent emergency" becoming "silent genocide"?

Published in 1989, by UN Standing Committee on Nutrition

SCN News No 07 - Refugees' Nutrition Crisis

The main focus of this SCN News is on refugees' nutrition crisis, as serious problems are experienced in meeting the nutritional needs of refugees. Furthermore, micronutrient intake and its relation to income and prices as well as the link between breastfeeding, birth spacing and nutrition are discussed.

Published in 1991, by UN Standing Committee on Nutrition

SCN News No 22 - Nutrition Goals and Targets

This issue of SCN News is devoted to nutrition goals and targets. This topic is both timely and important because two major upcoming international meetings will review achievements towards nutrition goals set in the 90s. These are the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Children in September which marks the tenth anniversary of the...

Published in 2001, by UN Standing Committee on Nutrition

SCN News No 23 - Civil Society and the UN system: Debate in the Food Security Arena

This issue of SCN News focuses on the interface between NGOs/civil society and the UN system concerning food security. SCN News 23 tries to take stock of what has not happened since the World Food Summit (WFS) in 1996. The postponement of the WFS: five year later meeting gives us a good window of opportunity to focus on what are still unanswered questions...

Published in 2001, by UN Standing Committee on Nutrition

SCN News No 29 - Overweight and Obesity: A New Nutrition Emergency?

This issue of SCN News highlights the global challenge involved in effectively addressing the increasing public health problem of overweight and obesity. Our goal is to update readers and raise awareness of the issues related to overweight and obesity from a broad perspective and highlight recent global efforts and actions for their prevention and control.

Published in 2004, by UN Standing Committee on Nutrition

SCN News No 30 - Closing the Gap on the Right to Adequate Food: The Voluntary Guidelines

The focus of this edition of SCN News is on the challenges provided by the new Voluntary Guidelines on realizing the right to adequate food, adopted by the FAO Council last November. The papers include the SCN’s experience of developing case studies on how to strengthen food and nutrition components of national poverty reduction plans. They describe the...

Published in 2005, by UN Standing Committee on Nutrition

SCN News No 35 - Universal Salt Iodization (USI)

This edition of the SCN News is about one of the greatest success stories in international nutrition, that of Universal Salt Iodization. Although much still remains to be done, remarkable advances have been achieved in the fight against Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD) in the last two decades.

Published in 2007, by UN Standing Committee on Nutrition

Second Report on the World Nutrition Situation - Volume I: Global and Regional Results

This Second Report on the World Nutrition Situation comes at an important time. In the near future human well-being, to which nutrition is fundamental, could improve more rapidly throughout the world; but economic adjustments and mass migration are continuing threats. The results here show steady, if slow, progress in many countries in the last few years....

Published in 1992, by UN Standing Committee on Nutrition

The Right to Health - OHCHR Fact Sheet No. 31

The fact sheet starts by explaining what the right to health is and illustrating its implications for specific individuals and groups, and then elaborates upon States' obligations with respect to the right. It ends with an overview of national, regional and international accountability and monitoring mechanisms.

Published in 2008, by OHCHR, WHO