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156:. 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
392:
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
397:, indicating non-emergency levels even after adult malnutrition has reached crisis levels. It has also been noted that malnutrition is often not directly related to food availability; malnutrition is often the result of disease or poor child-care practices, even with adequate food availability.
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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
261:
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
184:
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.
220:
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.
266:
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
248:
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
269:
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:
241:
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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
413:, 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:
599:
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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140:. 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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289:, 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
380:
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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50:
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681:, 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%
687:
664:
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197:
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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
400:
1082:
International
Conference on Population and Development
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Greater than 2/10,000/day = "emergency out of control"
611:town. In comparison, the 2000 Ethiopian famine in
168:One of the earliest methods of measurement was the
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232:created a number of "pre-famine indicators" for
366:(swollen belly) is always a "cause for concern"
703:
633:Integrated Food Security Phase Classification
393:children. Child malnutrition may thus be a
317:Freshly-dug graves for child victims of the
1107:United Nations world population conferences
53:. Unsourced material may be challenged and
1020:Population and housing censuses by country
710:
696:
386:4/10,000/day = "emergency out of control"
256:
117:Learn how and when to remove this message
743:Estimates of historical world population
312:
285:Severe malnutrition leading to weakened
401:Combined intensity and magnitude scales
293:forms a fraction of deaths in a famine.
240:levels to create recommendations. The
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351:Greater than 20% = "serious situation"
192:. One of the most efficacious is the
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236:and combined it with measurements of
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675:How many dying babies make a famine?
661:Synthesis Report on the Famine Forum
51:adding citations to reliable sources
18:
1112:Voluntary Human Extinction Movement
297:
13:
653:, (PDF) Howe, P. and S. Devereux,
383:2/10,000/day = "serious situation"
372:1/10,000/day = "serious situation"
354:Greater than 40% = "severe crisis"
333:Wasting - defined as less than -2
262:themselves were threatened first.
14:
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1004:Population and Development Review
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487:Clear signs of social breakdown;
196:Early Warning System in northern
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1052:Population concern organizations
758:Projections of population growth
607:village ranging to 3: Famine in
407:Institute of Development Studies
23:
1153:Human impact on the environment
1087:Population Action International
1102:United Nations Population Fund
717:
1:
242:Food Security Assessment Unit
244:(FSAU) devised a system for
228:measurements. In 2002, the
200:in which indicators include
16:Measurement of food security
7:
1127:World Population Foundation
1117:World Population Conference
1030:World population milestones
626:
10:
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999:Population and Environment
601:1998 southern Sudan famine
172:developed by the colonial
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909:Human population planning
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733:Demographics of the world
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639:Global Acute Malnutrition
914:Compulsory sterilization
657:, 2004, 28 (4): 353-372,
526:On the magnitude scale:
319:2011 East Africa drought
856:Malthusian growth model
251:humanitarian assistance
983:Zero population growth
978:Sustainable population
902:Malthusian catastrophe
861:Overshoot (population)
738:Demographic transition
683:2005 Niger food crisis
621:2005 Niger food crisis
329:
257:Livelihoods strategies
1092:Population Connection
956:Mere addition paradox
795:Physiological density
483:prevalence of oedema
316:
190:early warning systems
1122:World Population Day
1077:Church of Euthanasia
966:Non-identity problem
941:Political demography
897:Human overpopulation
590:Catastrophic famine
517:CMR ≥ 15/10,000/day
411:University of Sussex
230:World Food Programme
47:improve this article
971:Reproductive rights
802:Population dynamics
753:Population momentum
593:1,000,000 and over
344:populations in non-
335:standard deviations
170:Indian Famine Codes
160:Measurement methods
146:a full-scale famine
1097:Population Matters
812:Population pyramid
790:Population density
785:Population decline
395:trailing indicator
340:5-10% = normal in
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1200:
1072:7 Billion Actions
946:Population ethics
839:Carrying capacity
748:Population growth
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148:had developed in
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924:One-child policy
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807:Population model
763:World population
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582:100,000-999,999
557:Moderate famine
538:Mortality range
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298:Nutrition levels
194:Turkana District
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66:"Famine scales"
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68: –
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62:Find sources:
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42:
41:
37:
32:This article
30:
26:
21:
20:
1180:
992:Publications
951:Antinatalism
889:
866:World3 model
726:Major topics
654:
617:
598:
560:1,000-9,999
525:
482:
464:Food crisis
436:Food secure
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212:, status of
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178:crop failure
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45:Please help
33:
875:Society and
834:Biocapacity
428:Livelihood
364:kwashiorkor
182:food prices
107:August 2024
1062:Events and
877:population
823:Population
774:Population
719:Population
671:, May 2004
348:conditions
291:starvation
154:Kosovo War
77:newspapers
1158:Migration
1035:6 billion
655:Disasters
532:Category
304:nutrition
238:nutrition
218:rangeland
214:livestock
34:does not
1208:Category
1193:Category
961:Natalism
884:Eugenics
679:BBC News
627:See also
302:Various
234:Ethiopia
204:levels,
202:rainfall
142:food aid
1214:Famines
1182:Commons
825:ecology
776:biology
663:(PDF),
535:Phrase
489:markets
478:Famine
422:Phrase
409:at the
362:due to
346:drought
342:African
246:Somalia
210:cereals
174:British
91:scholar
55:removed
40:sources
892:genics
609:Rumbek
549:0-999
425:Lives
419:Level
360:Oedema
323:Dadaab
275:income
226:ad hoc
138:famine
93:
86:
79:
72:
64:
1013:Lists
665:USAID
635:(IPC)
605:Ajiep
327:Kenya
198:Kenya
98:JSTOR
84:books
669:OFDA
667:and
613:Gode
70:news
38:any
36:cite
890:Dys
253:).
208:of
49:by
1210::
677:,
587:E
576:D
565:C
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511:5
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461:2
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