Malnutrition in the OIC Member

Countries: A Trap for Poverty

COMCEC

Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC)

The IPC is a set of protocols (tools and procedures) that are used to classify the severity of the

level of food insecurity and provide actionable recommendations. The classification system is

widely recognised and seeks to answer key questions including the severity of the situation,

which areas are food insecure, the number of people who are insecure, what is the socio

economic background of those facing food insecurity and finally, why people are food insecure

(IPC Global Partners 2012). The classification system includes five phases, from phase 1-

minimal, where more than four in five households can meet basic food and non-food needs to

phase 5- famine, which is defined as a situation when “even with humanitarian assistance one

in five households in an area have an extreme lack of food and other basic needs and where

starvation, death and destitution are evident” (IPC Global Partners 2012).

An IPC survey in Yemen, an OIC country, undertaken in 2015 found that 41% of the population

(10.6 million people) were food insecure and 5 million of those were severely food insecure

(HEART 2015). Additionally, the rates of child malnutrition are among the highest in the world,

with critical levels of acute malnutrition in three regions and poor or serious levels in the rest

of the country.

The Sahel, which also includes a number of OIC countries faces regular famine- with drought

in the region leading to hunger for millions of people for the third time in seven years (HEART

2015). Nigeria is currently facing famine conditions in Borno state. Recent evidence found that

55,000 people are classified as phase 5 according to the IPC classification and another 1.8

million are classified as phase 4, an emergency situation (Boseley 2016).

Famine Early Warning Systems (FEWS NET)

FEWS NET was established in 1985 following devastating famines in the Sahel and horn of

Africa. It is a network which provides early warning and analysis about acute level of food

insecurity providing an evidence based analysis to enable governments and others to plan for

and respond appropriately to humanitarian crises. The network has partners actively

monitoring the situation in terms of weather, climate, markets and trade, agricultural

production, livelihoods, nutritional status and food assistance in 36 of the world's most food

insecure countries and producing monthly maps and reports on projected levels of food

insecurity (USAID 2016).