Nutrition and Health

Through our nutrition and health programmes, action against hunger prevents, diagnoses, and treats acute malnutrition of those at most risk.

Nearly 733 million people in the world faced hunger in 2023¹. 148 million children less than five years of age were stunted¹, 45 million for acute malnutrition¹. The climatic change is an additional threat to the food security of the people who are most vulnerable. Droughts, floods, extreme metrologic events have a direct impact on the communities.

Through its nutrition and health programmes, Action Against Hunger prevents, diagnoses and treats acute malnutrition of those at most risk: young infants, pregnant or breast-feeding women. Depending on the particular requirements of each situation, the context and the local culture, Action Against Hunger designs health and nutrition programmes that are tailor-made for the target community.

Nutrition programs

We launch these programs most often in times of crisis; for example, when an earthquake wipes out a city, when civil war tears a country apart, when drought leads to famine, or when families flee violence only to find themselves victims of hunger. The contexts in which our programs operate are varied: from remote mountain villages to cities divided by ethnic conflict, to camps for refugees or internally displaced persons.

Depending on the specific requirements of each situation, context and local culture, Action contre la Faim designs nutrition-health programs tailored to the population. In 2023, we helped 10.9 million people through our nutrition and health projects.

Prevention and Training of Local Workers

Action Against Hunger pays special attention to the training of local workers so that they can manage and treat malnutrition on a National level. Furthermore, AAH also takes into account the quality and nature of the care given to children in the family and the community. With this in mind, our programmes reinforce childcare practices and the parent-child relationship promoting the child’s physical and psychological development.

Local Healthcare Centres

Our Healthcare Centres have been setup locally as close as possible to the people in need so that they are able to manage and treat malnutrition as quickly as possible. In parallel, emotional support (related to mental health) can be given to victims and their family.

Assessing nutritional needs

Understanding the root causes of each crisis leading to malnutrition is essential to designing and implementing an effective feeding program. Action contre la Faim draws on the full range of its technical expertise in nutrition and health, food security, drinking water and sanitation, to best analyze each situation and enable patients to return to good health. In addition to essential data on basic nutritional indicators, the assessment includes information on local culture, infrastructure and geography. The results of this analysis help determine the number and location of distribution centers required to effectively alleviate the food crisis.

Therapeutic clinics provide round-the-clock care for those most affected by acute malnutrition, including infants, young children and pregnant or breast-feeding women. Once treated and in good health, the majority of these people can return to their families 30 days later.

To prevent relapse among those who leave the therapeutic clinics cured, and to help those who are acutely malnourished but require less intensive care, the supplementary nutrition centers provide weekly treatment. Our staff closely assess the nutritional health of beneficiaries and dispense therapeutic food preparations that can be consumed without special preparation and transported easily to remote locations.

Often mobile, these centers also help those who cannot reach the network of therapeutic treatment clinics. In addition to the medical and nutritional care it provides, Action contre la Faim organizes activities in both types of center to encourage social interaction, strengthen family ties and train caregivers in hygiene and nutrition.

¹Source : SOFI 2024