GUIDELINES FOR

NUTRITION BASELINE SURVEYS

IN COMMUNITIES

Table of Contents

Version 1.2

Jakarta, 1997

Rainer Gross, Arnfried Kielmann, Rolf Korte, Hans Schoeneberger, Werner Schultink.
 
 

Published under the joint auspices of
The Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO)
Regional Tropical Medicine and Public Health Network (TROPMED)
TROPMED Central Office
and
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH
Federal Republic of Germany

"The most important resource
is always people."

Barber Conable (1988)
President of the World Bank


 






Foreword

During the second half of the 1980s the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH redefined its nutrition policy within technical cooperation. The new position was published by GTZ in the document "Development and Nutrition." The main message of this document is that poverty alleviation is a priority in the cooperation policy of the government of the Federal Republic of Germany with developing countries and that reduction of hunger and malnutrition is a major issue in poverty alleviation. However, very little is known about the effectiveness and success of reduction of malnutrition through poverty alleviation. Consequently all projects which are expected to improve the nutritional situation and reduce poverty should assess the nature, magnitude, causes, and groups at risk of malnutrition at the beginning of the project and after the project has been implemented for a substantial length of time. For this purpose a standardized methodology for a nutritional baseline survey has been developed and tested in various projects.

These guidelines do not contain any new methods. It often refers to international standards for nutrition surveys. For the experienced reader some information may even appear too basic and trivial. However, the content of the present guidelines documents the GTZ experience with nutritional baseline surveys and considers the repeated occurrences of different procedures, errors and failures. By ensuring quality and standardization, it is possible to make comparisons with some of the experiences and results of nutrition surveys from other organizations. Where standards fall short, practical experience has been used to develop the methodology.

It should be stressed that guidelines for survey techniques will never have the last word on the subject. Rather it is important to be keep abreast of new scientific discoveries, international standardization, and practical experience. Therefore, all readers are encouraged to submit comments or summaries of their experiences for consideration in future editions of the guidelines.

During the years of work, the authors have consulted numerous persons. All of them deserve an additional expression of gratitude for their valuable contributions. In particular, the authors thank D'Ann Finley and Ursula Gross for editing and proof reading the guidelines.