Cure Severe Malnutrition | Prevent Malnutrition | Detect Malnutrition
Food Security | Advocacy

1. Cure severe malnutrition: Therapeutic Feeding
During food crises with large numbers of severely malnourished, a specialized nutrition rehabilitation unit, or therapeutic feeding center (TFC), has proved to be the most effective means of curing severe malnutrition. Therapeutic feeding provides a carefully balanced and intensively managed dietary regimen with intensive medical attention to rehabilitate the severely malnourished and reduce excess mortality. (Learn more about this program: http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/programs/tfcs.html)

2. Prevent Malnutrition: Targeted Supplementary Feeding
Targeted supplementary feeding provides energy or quality dietary supplements and basic health screening to those who are moderately malnourished to prevent them from becoming severely malnourished and to improve their nutritional status. As with severe malnutrition, the most vulnerable are children under five. Rations generally consist of blended flours with vitamin and mineral supplements, sugar, and oil. The balance of the ration should correspond to the patient’s physiological requirements.

3. Detect Malnutrition: Sentinel Sites, Nutritional Surveillance and Nutritional Surveys
When dealing with populations in emergency situations, it is essential to evaluate the nutrition situation quickly and precisely. This evaluation is based on surveillance data, demographic indicators, direct observation, advice from experts, and rapid anthropometric surveys, which measure the prevalence of malnutrition. The objectives of these surveys include: to quantify malnutrition in a specified population, to identify higher risk groups, to estimate the number of children who may benefit from a nutrition program, to assess trends in nutrition status, to evaluate and adjust a program, and to compare the nutrition status of refugees and the local population.

4. Food Security: Improvements for the long-term
In emergencies, the population turns to coping mechanisms to deal with reduced availability of or access to food. Action Against Hunger reinforces coping mechanisms through its food security programs. These programs are designed to improve food security, i.e. increase availability and access of food, with the objective to help vulnerable populations regain self-sufficiency.

We distribute seeds and tools as well as conduct training programs in income-generating activities such as farming, gardening, animal breeding, fishing, and food conservation. These programs are aimed more at attacking the underlying causes of hunger and building local agriculture, market systems, and capacities.

5. Advocacy: Promoting Steps to fight hunger at all levels
Action Against Hunger firmly believes that, while we save lives on the field, it is also necessary to take action on the home front by advocating on issues that will create progress in the fight against hunger. It is part of our mandate to speak out for victims and testify about the unacceptable situations we see on the field, both to decision-makers and to the general public. (Learn more about this program - www.actionagainsthunger.org/about/hunger_faqs.html)

Learn more about these strategies:
www.actionagainsthunger.org/about/hunger_strategies.html