Climate change and nutrition: creating a climate for nutrition security.

BACKGROUND: Climate change further exacerbates the enormous existing burden of undernutrition. It affects food and nutrition security and undermines current efforts to reduce hunger and promote nutrition. Undernutrition in turn undermines climate resilience and the coping strategies of vulnerable populations. OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this paper are to identify and undertake a cross-sectoral analysis of the impacts of climate change on nutrition security and the existing mechanisms, strategies, and policies to address them. METHODS: A cross-sectoral analysis of the impacts of climate change on nutrition security and the mechanisms and policies to address them was guided by an analytical framework focused on the three 'underlying causes' of undernutrition: 1) household food access, 2) maternal and child care and feeding practices, 3) environmental health and health access. The analytical framework includes the interactions of the three underlying causes of undernutrition with climate change,vulnerability, adaptation and mitigation. RESULTS: Within broad efforts on climate change mitigation and adaptation and climate-resilient development, a combination of nutrition-sensitive adaptation and mitigation measures, climate-resilient and nutrition-sensitive agricultural development, social protection, improved maternal and child care and health, nutrition-sensitive risk reduction and management, community development measures, nutrition-smart investments, increased policy coherence, and institutional and cross-sectoral collaboration are proposed as a means to address the impacts of climate change to food and nutrition security. This paper proposes policy directions to address nutrition in the climate change agenda and recommendations for consideration by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). CONCLUSIONS: Nutrition and health stakeholders need to be engaged in key climate change adaptation and mitigation initiatives, including science-based assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and policies and actions formulated by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Improved multi-sectoral coordination and political will is required to integrate nutrition-sensitive actions into climate-resilient sustainable development efforts in the UNFCCC work and in the post 2015 development agenda. Placing human rights at the center of strategies to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change and international solidarity is essential to advance sustainable development and to create a climate for nutrition security.

Smart investments in sustainable food production: revisiting mixed crop-livestock systems.

Farmers in mixed crop-livestock systems produce about half of the world's food. In small holdings around the world, livestock are reared mostly on grass, browse, and nonfood biomass from maize, millet, rice, and sorghum crops and in their turn supply manure and traction for future crops. Animals act as insurance against hard times and supply farmers with a source of regular income from sales of milk, eggs, and other products. Thus, faced with population growth and climate change, small-holder farmers should be the first target for policies to intensify production by carefully managed inputs of fertilizer, water, and feed to minimize waste and environmental impact, supported by improved access to markets, new varieties, and technologies.

The effects of washing and duration of use of long-lasting insecticidal nets (PermaNets) on insecticidal effectiveness.

The use of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) is one of the most feasible weapons available for malaria control in Africa today. One of the important requirements for ITN use is regular re-treatment at an appropriate time. As a response to the low re-treatment rate when the ITN users are expected to purchase insecticide and re-treat their nets, manufacturers have developed long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLIN) that are pre-treated in the factory, and are claimed to require no further treatment during their lifespan. A study was conducted to assess the possible effects of number of washings, frequency of washing and the duration of use on the effectiveness of PermaNets, a LLIN, against mosquitoes. The study was done for 9 months at Chekereni village, Northeastern Tanzania. The LLINs and untreated control nets were distributed to villagers in three groups. Group 1 nets were used without being washed for the whole study period. Group 2 nets received one wash per month, while group 3 received two washes per month. The effectiveness was assessed by contact bioassays using World Health Organization (WHO) bioassay cones. Mosquitoes were exposed to the netting for 3min. The knock down and mortality was scored after 3min and 24h, respectively. Results showed that the number and frequency of washes had no significant effect on the efficacy for up to 18 washes. Similarly, we could not detect a significant effect of duration of use and conditions of use on the efficacy for up to 9 months. PermaNets caused short-lived irritation and sneezing but appear to be well accepted by the community in which the study was conducted.