Resource information
Abstract:
"Despite improvements in recent years, the prevalence of undernutrition among women and children in Myanmar remains unacceptably high. One in three children are stunted and about 8% are acutely malnourished. Micronutrient deficiencies are common among infants, young children and pregnant women. In fact, more than 80% of children 6 to 23 months of age and 70% of pregnant women are anemic. To better understand the determinants of undernutrition and the linkages between food security, livelihoods and nutrition in Myanmar as a whole as well as in specific geographic areas where programs supported by the Livelihoods, Food Security Trust Fund (LIFT) are being implemented, the LEARN project has reviewed food and nutrition security data from the past five years and synthesized relevant findings into this user-friendly report.
Guided by the conceptual framework of the determinants of undernutrition initially developed by UNICEF and adapted by the authors of the 2008 Lancet Series on Maternal and Child Undernutrition, this report presents what is known about the immediate determinants of undernutrition and how they are affected by underlying food security, caregiving, and environmental conditions, which are in turn shaped by income poverty, lack of access to capital and basic economic and social conditions. As the purpose of this report is as much to present what is known about food and nutrition security in Myanmar as it is to identify what is not known, the structure of the report is intended to highlight gaps in knowledge and areas for further research. Following the Introduction, Section 2 presents national level data on the food and nutrition security situation in Myanmar in the past five years. Sections 3, 4 and 5 present data on food and nutrition security from the various agro-ecological zones that are of interest to LIFT, namely the Coastal/Delta, Dry, and Uplands. Each section is organized in the same way, beginning with data on the prevalence of undernutrition in the geographic area, followed by findings on potential causes of undernutrition, organized according to immediate, underlying and basic determinants.
This report will contribute to the overall knowledge base of the food and nutrition security sector as well as inform decisions related to the selection of interventions aimed at improving the nutritional status of families and communities in Myanmar.
