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167:. This ambiguity about whether or not a famine is occurring, and the lack of commonly agreed upon criteria by which to differentiate food insecurity has prompted renewed interest in offering precise definitions. As different levels of food insecurity demand different types of response, there have been various methods of famine measurement proposed to help agencies determine the appropriate response.
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Previously famines had been perceived as a threat to individuals, even large numbers of individuals. Inherent in the livelihoods strategies outlook is the conception of famine as a social problem. Populations affected by increased food stress will try to cope through market structures (i.e. selling
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A tension that has existed in all attempts to define a famine is between definitions of famine as an event and definitions as a process. In the first case, famine is defined (roughly) as the event of many people dying of starvation within a locality or region. In the second, famine is described as
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The use of these cut-offs is contentious. Some argue that a crude mortality rate of one death per ten thousand people per day is already a full-scale emergency. Others note that while most indicators are focused on children, parents will often reduce their own food consumption in favor of their
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While each organization working in famine-related areas has its own operational interpretation of specific indicators, the Howe-Devereaux framework has been widely adopted as a common framework by which famine warning and famine relief may be discussed worldwide, in particular in the use of the
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The FSAU system is one of several recent systems that draws a distinction between "saving lives" and "saving livelihoods". Older models concentrated simply on the mortality of famine victims. However, relief agencies gradually realized that the means by which families and individuals supported
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above 140% of "normal", the movement of people in search of food, and widespread mortality. The Punjab Food Code stated, "Imminence of death is the sole criterion for declaration of famine." Inherent in the Famine Codes was the assumption that famine was an event, and not a process.
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conditions and trends, and enrollment on food-for-work projects. The system identifies three levels of crisis: alarm, alert and emergency, each of which is linked to a planned response to mitigate the crisis and try to prevent a worsening of the situation.
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possessions for food) and reliance upon community and family support structures. It is only when such social structures collapse under the strain that individuals are faced with the malnutrition and starvation that has commonly been viewed as "famine".
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a chronology beginning with a disruption or disruptions that gradually leads to widespread death. However, these general definitions have little utility for those implementing food relief as "region", "widespread", etc. are undefined.
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begin to collapse; coping strategies exhausted and survival strategies (migration in search of help, abandonment of weaker members of the community) adopted; affected population identifies food scarcity as the major societal problem
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with four levels: Non-alert (near normal), Alert (requires close attention), Livelihood Crisis (basic social structures under threat) and
Humanitarian Emergency (threat of widespread mortality requiring immediate
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During the 1980s and 1990s, studies of the process by which populations adapted to food stress as food security worsened received much attention. Four stages of the process were identified:
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Irreversible strategies in response to prolonged food stress, such as selling breeding livestock or mortgaging land, which trade short-term survival for long-term difficulty
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Social system stressed but largely cohesive; Dramatic rise in food and basic items prices; Adaptive mechanisms begin to fail; Increase in irreversible coping strategies
424:, set forth a measurement of famine with scales for both "intensity" and "magnitude", incorporating many of the developments of recent decades. The intensity scale is:
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Using this framework, each famine would receive a
Magnitude designation, but locations within the affected region would be classified at varying Intensities. The
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in the 1880s. The Famine Codes defined three levels of food insecurity: near-scarcity, scarcity, and famine. "Scarcity" was defined as three successive years of
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district would be classified as a B: Moderate famine, and would thus should demand proportionally less of the limited resources available for famine relief.
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151:. The word "famine" has highly emotive and political connotations and there has been extensive discussion among international relief agencies offering
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Widespread social breakdown; markets close; survival strategies widespread; affected population identifies food scarcity as the major societal problem
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Complete social breakdown; widespread mortality; affected population identifies food scarcity as the major societal problem
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300:, illness and death, in the event of the failure of the first three levels of coping. Death caused directly by
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intensity scale. This has led organizations such as the World Food
Programme to refrain from referring to the
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Under-five mortality rate (U5MR), i.e. number of deaths of children under five years of age within a time span
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692:, 10 August 2005 - an article examining how the "famine" label was mediated by politicians and media in the
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Cohesive social system; Food prices unstable; Seasonal shortages; Reversible coping strategies taken
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Reversible strategies, in response to 'normal' food stress, such as rationing food or diversifying
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Famine
Intensity and Magnitude Scales: A Proposal for an Instrumental Definition of Famine
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Crude mortality rate (CMR), i.e. number of deaths per ten thousand people in a time span
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In an influential paper published in 2004, Paul Howe and
Stephen Devereux, both of the
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Refugee
Nutrition Information System lists a number of such indicator cutoff points:
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benchmarks have been proposed as the cut-off points for food insecurity levels. The
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0.5 ≤ CMR < 1/10,000/day; 10% ≤ Wasting < 20%; and/or prevalence of oedema
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The failure of internal coping methods and total dependence on external food aid
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The basic premise of the Famine Codes formed the basis of numerous subsequent
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Cohesive social system; food prices stable; Coping strategies not utilized
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Crude
Mortality Rate (CMR) < 0.2/10,000/day; and/or Wasting < 2.3%
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as a famine, as indicators had not deteriorated into a Level 3: Famine.
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would be a C: Major Famine, with an intensity of 5: Extreme famine in
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5 ≤ CMR <15/10,000/day; Wasting ≥ 40%; and/or prevalence of oedema
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International organizations responding to recent food crises created
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in body weight, usually for children between six and 59 months
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going from entire populations with adequate food to full-scale
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0.2 ≤ CMR < 0.5/10,000/day; and/or 2.3% ≤ Wasting < 10%
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675:
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as to its exact definition. For example, in 1998, although
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1 ≤ CMR < 5/10,000/day; 20% ≤ Wasting < 40%; and/or
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1093:
International
Conference on Population and Development
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Greater than 2/10,000/day = "emergency out of control"
622:town. In comparison, the 2000 Ethiopian famine in
179:One of the earliest methods of measurement was the
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243:created a number of "pre-famine indicators" for
377:(swollen belly) is always a "cause for concern"
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644:Integrated Food Security Phase Classification
404:children. Child malnutrition may thus be a
328:Freshly-dug graves for child victims of the
1118:United Nations world population conferences
64:. Unsourced material may be challenged and
1031:Population and housing censuses by country
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397:4/10,000/day = "emergency out of control"
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128:Learn how and when to remove this message
754:Estimates of historical world population
323:
296:Severe malnutrition leading to weakened
412:Combined intensity and magnitude scales
304:forms a fraction of deaths in a famine.
251:levels to create recommendations. The
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362:Greater than 20% = "serious situation"
203:. One of the most efficacious is the
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247:and combined it with measurements of
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686:How many dying babies make a famine?
672:Synthesis Report on the Famine Forum
62:adding citations to reliable sources
29:
1123:Voluntary Human Extinction Movement
308:
24:
664:, (PDF) Howe, P. and S. Devereux,
394:2/10,000/day = "serious situation"
383:1/10,000/day = "serious situation"
365:Greater than 40% = "severe crisis"
344:Wasting - defined as less than -2
273:themselves were threatened first.
25:
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1015:Population and Development Review
655:
498:Clear signs of social breakdown;
207:Early Warning System in northern
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1063:Population concern organizations
769:Projections of population growth
618:village ranging to 3: Famine in
418:Institute of Development Studies
34:
1164:Human impact on the environment
1098:Population Action International
1113:United Nations Population Fund
728:
13:
1:
253:Food Security Assessment Unit
255:(FSAU) devised a system for
239:measurements. In 2002, the
211:in which indicators include
27:Measurement of food security
7:
1138:World Population Foundation
1128:World Population Conference
1041:World population milestones
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10:
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1010:Population and Environment
612:1998 southern Sudan famine
183:developed by the colonial
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920:Human population planning
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744:Demographics of the world
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650:Global Acute Malnutrition
925:Compulsory sterilization
668:, 2004, 28 (4): 353-372,
537:On the magnitude scale:
330:2011 East Africa drought
867:Malthusian growth model
262:humanitarian assistance
994:Zero population growth
989:Sustainable population
913:Malthusian catastrophe
872:Overshoot (population)
749:Demographic transition
694:2005 Niger food crisis
632:2005 Niger food crisis
340:
268:Livelihoods strategies
1103:Population Connection
967:Mere addition paradox
806:Physiological density
494:prevalence of oedema
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201:early warning systems
1133:World Population Day
1088:Church of Euthanasia
977:Non-identity problem
952:Political demography
908:Human overpopulation
601:Catastrophic famine
528:CMR ≥ 15/10,000/day
422:University of Sussex
241:World Food Programme
58:improve this article
982:Reproductive rights
813:Population dynamics
764:Population momentum
604:1,000,000 and over
355:populations in non-
346:standard deviations
181:Indian Famine Codes
171:Measurement methods
157:a full-scale famine
1108:Population Matters
823:Population pyramid
801:Population density
796:Population decline
406:trailing indicator
351:5-10% = normal in
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1083:7 Billion Actions
957:Population ethics
850:Carrying capacity
759:Population growth
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159:had developed in
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16:(Redirected from
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940:Two-child policy
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593:100,000-999,999
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549:Mortality range
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525:Extreme famine
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79: –
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43:This article
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31:
19:
1191:
1003:Publications
962:Antinatalism
900:
877:World3 model
737:Major topics
665:
628:
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571:1,000-9,999
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493:
475:Food crisis
447:Food secure
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223:, status of
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189:crop failure
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56:Please help
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18:Famine scale
886:Society and
845:Biocapacity
439:Livelihood
375:kwashiorkor
193:food prices
118:August 2024
1073:Events and
888:population
834:Population
785:Population
730:Population
682:, May 2004
359:conditions
302:starvation
165:Kosovo War
88:newspapers
1169:Migration
1046:6 billion
666:Disasters
543:Category
315:nutrition
249:nutrition
229:rangeland
225:livestock
45:does not
1219:Category
1204:Category
972:Natalism
895:Eugenics
690:BBC News
638:See also
313:Various
245:Ethiopia
215:levels,
213:rainfall
153:food aid
1225:Famines
1193:Commons
836:ecology
787:biology
674:(PDF),
546:Phrase
500:markets
489:Famine
433:Phrase
420:at the
373:due to
357:drought
353:African
257:Somalia
221:cereals
185:British
102:scholar
66:removed
51:sources
903:genics
620:Rumbek
560:0-999
436:Lives
430:Level
371:Oedema
334:Dadaab
286:income
237:ad hoc
149:famine
104:
97:
90:
83:
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1024:Lists
676:USAID
646:(IPC)
616:Ajiep
338:Kenya
209:Kenya
109:JSTOR
95:books
680:OFDA
678:and
624:Gode
81:news
49:any
47:cite
901:Dys
264:).
219:of
60:by
1221::
688:,
598:E
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