Maarten Immink

Bio: Maarten Immink is an academic researcher from UNICEF. The author has contributed to research in topics: Food security & Malnutrition. The author has an hindex of 4, co-authored 4 publications receiving 74 citations.

Risk analysis of poor health and growth failure of children in the central highlands of Guatemala.

Abstract: Child morbidity and growth failure are multidimensional phenomena. An assessment was undertaken of the food and nonfood risk factors of poor health and growth failure in children of different age groups in the central highlands of Guatemala. The aim was to identify high risk factors in under-five and school-age children. Under-five children at high risk of being ill tended to come from households with: high needs of child care, a lack of access to a private well or piped water, and no sewage connection. Women's illiteracy constituted an additional risk factor for diarrheal disease in under-five children. Growth failure in under-five children was mainly due to chronic factors: 74% were stunted, 6% were wasted and 44% were weight deficient. These prevalence rates were lower among school-age children. Low per capita food availability, and particularly the absence in the household of self-produced staple foods, was the most significant risk factor of growth failure in under-five children, followed by high risk of being ill, and participation by women in farm production. The latter was particularly a risk factor of wasting. Nonfood risk factors were most important for growth failure in school-age children. These factors included: sanitation, housing conditions, women's literacy status, and adult women's body mass index. Participation in farm production by school-age children was associated with a higher risk of growth failure in younger siblings. It is concluded that multisectoral programs need to reduce the impact of various risk factors of poor health and growth failure in children, and be careful not to introduce new risk factors. Depending on which age group is targeted, such programs should either prioritize improvements in household food availability, or nonfood interventions that reduce women's illiteracy and improve sanitary and housing conditions.

Managing interactions between household food security and preschooler health

Abstract: Food security does not assure good nutrition The nutritional status of an individual is influenced not only by food but also by nonfood factors, such as clean water, sanitation, and health care The effect of all of these factors must be considered in efforts to rid the world of malnutrition Food security will result in good nutrition only if nonfood factors are effectively dealt with In this paper, Lawrence Haddad, Saroj Bhattarai, Maarten Immink, and Shubh Kumar show how malnutrition among preschool children is determined by a complex interaction of illness and lack of food The authors look at three countries —Ethiopia, Pakistan, and the Philippines — to study how food availability and diarrhea interact and what this interaction means for preschooler malnutrition Their results show that the links between food consumption, diarrhea, and malnutrition are stronger than most economic studies have assumed When diarrhea is prevalent, the effects of food shortages on child malnutrition are worse, and when food is scarce, the effects of diarrhea on child malnutrition are worse

Estimating the interactions between household food security and preschool diarrhea

Abstract: How important are the interactions between household food security and preschooler diarrhea in the determination of preschooler nutrition status? Using survey data from a number of developing countries this paper provides evidence that the interactions are important: increases in household food security have a larger marginal impact on preschooler nutrition status at higher diarrheal levels. Conversely, inceases in diarrhea levels at low energy levels have a larger negative incremental effect on preschooler nutrition status than at high energy levels. The implications of these results are discussed.

More than food is needed to achieve good nutrition by 2020

Abstract: A primary focus of the IFPRI 2020 Vision initiative is to find ways for people to attain food security, that is, sufficient food to lead healthy and productive lives. But what is "sufficient"? And is providing access to food the primary means of protecting people (particularly women and children) against malnutrition, which now faces millions of people around the world? Recent evidence indicates that improvements in household food security, as measured by adequate calories, do not necessarily translate into improvements in the nutritional status of women and children. One reason for persistent malnutrition may lie in the complex interaction between food supply and illness, which is influenced by the overall health environment. This is often called the "leaking bucket effect," wherein improvements in access to the foods that are important for good nutritional status may be offset by poor access to nonfood inputs, such as quality health care facilities and services, education, sanitation, and clean water or ineffective mechanisms for delivering these services. If this is so, greater emphasis should be placed on improving access to these nonfood inputs in order to achieve the 2020 Vision. This brief examines these issues.

Explaining Child Malnutrition in Developing Countries: A Cross-Country Analysis

Abstract: "One in three pre-school children in the developing world is undernourished. As a consequence, their human rights are violated. In addition, they are more likely to have impaired immune systems, poorer cognitive development, lower productivity as adults, and greater susceptibility to diet-related chronic diseases such as hypertension and coronary heart disease later in life. Undernourished female preschoolers are likely to grow into undernourished young women who are more likely to give birth to babies who are undernourished even before they are born, thus perpetuating the inter-generational transmission of deprivation. Reducing these unacceptably high numbers remains a tremendous challenge to public policy. As a guide to the direction of future efforts, this research report examines the success of the efforts of the past 25 years to reduce preschooler undernutrition. The report uses an econometric model to identify the factors associated with the reduction in undernutrition. The formulation of the econometric model is guided by the widely accepted food-care-health conceptual model of child growth. The contributions of both underlying and basic determinants to reductions in undernutrition are assessed using the model. The potential of these factors to further reduce undernutrition is evaluated in a region-by-region priority-setting exercise. In addition, projections of child nutrition are made under various scenarios to the year 2020. What will it take to dramatically reduce undernutrition in the next 20 years? The report attempts some broad answers to these questions..." (Forward by Per Pinstrup-Andersen)

Urban livelihoods and food and nutrition security in Greater Accra, Ghana

Abstract: Published in collaboration with the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research and WHO

Can FAO's measure of chronic undernourishment be strengthened?

Abstract: In its Sixth World Food Survey released at the 1996 World Food Summit, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reported that 841 million people in developing countries are chronically undernourished. This number and its country and regional-level disaggregations have proved tremendously useful to countless development aid agencies and researchers. In the context of a recent wave of new nationally-representative household food consumption and expenditure surveys, this paper examines the estimation methodology underlying the food insecurity measure, which relies on national aggregate measures of food availability and distribution. The paper finds that the measure largely reflects national food availabilities and does not adequately capture people's ability to gain access to food – the ultimate key to food security. The implications for the indicator's use by policy makers in geographical targeting and tracking changes in food insecurity over time are drawn out. The paper concludes by arguing that the time has come to review the potential for employing the new household survey data, along with new methods, to strengthen the empirical foundations of FAO's measure.

Geography and Causes of Food Insecurity in Developing Countries (The)

Abstract: At the 1996 World Food Summit, 186 countries made a commitment to reduce the number of chronically undernourished people by half by 2015. In order to formulate effective policies for reaching this goal, a thorough understanding of the location and causes of food insecurity is needed. This paper provides a broad overview of the current character of food insecurity in developing countries, focusing on two questions: (1) Why are they food insecure? and (2) Why are the food insecure? To answer the latter question data from 58 developing countries with high prevalences of food insecurity are employed to examine the relative importance of two of food insecurityi¾’s most basic causes: national food availability and the inability of people to access food due to poverty. Using child malnutrition as a proxy (along with descriptive controls for non-food determinants of malnutrition), the paper finds little correlation between national food availabilities and food insecurity. The group of countries that exhibit the highest severity of food insecurity are those with high poverty and food (dietary energy) surpluses, consistent with the view that poverty is the most widespread cause of food insecurity in the 1990s. The paper concludes by considering the implications of the analysis for appropriate geographical and policy targeting to improve food security for the greatest numbers of people at the fastest pace, now and into the 21st century.

The geography and causes of food insecurity in developing countries

Abstract: At the 1996 World Food Summit, 186 countries made a commitment to reduce the number of chronically undernourished people by half by 2015. In order to formulate effective policies for reaching this goal, a thorough understanding of the location and causes of food insecurity is needed. This paper provides a broad overview of the current character of food insecurity in developing countries, focusing on two questions: (1) Why are they food insecure? and (2) Why are the food insecure? To answer the latter question data from 58 developing countries with high prevalences of food insecurity are employed to examine the relative importance of two of food insecurity’s most basic causes: national food availability and the inability of people to access food due to poverty. Using child malnutrition as a proxy (along with descriptive controls for non-food determinants of malnutrition), the paper finds little correlation between national food availabilities and food insecurity. The group of countries that exhibit the highest severity of food insecurity are those with high poverty and food (dietary energy) surpluses, consistent with the view that poverty is the most widespread cause of food insecurity in the 1990s. The paper concludes by considering the implications of the analysis for appropriate geographical and policy targeting to improve food security for the greatest numbers of people at the fastest pace, now and into the 21st century.