Disaster relief and preparedness: Nutritionally-balanced, cost effective, socially acceptable and sustainable emergency food aid design: A vital strategy for disaster abatement
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Date
2016-03-31
Authors
Lee, Lai Kuan
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Abstract
Flood management involves the implementation of river basin mitigation, immediate humanitarian resources, social rehabilitation measures and environmental preservation. Food aid continues to make up the majority of humanitarian appeals, and remains an important tool in response to the flood events. The present study was designed to develop a sustainable emergency food aid plan for the preparedness and abatement of flood disaster. The newly designated food aid plans are developed following the stringent criteria: cost effective, nutritionally-balance, socially acceptable and adhere to the guidelines permitted by the World Food Programm (WFP). Nutritional composition of more than 200 types of commonly consumed local foods during emergency was analyzed and compiled using several referred food databases. Four types of emergency food aid plans (general population, diabetes mellitus, hypertension and hyperlipidemia, and renal disorder) have been designed, with each of them were sub-classified based on three phenomena: household cooking, ready-to-eat food basket and catering services. Scenario development and linear programming identified daily dietary patterns that met key nutrient requirements (2100kcatld) for as little as a median of RM 3.161d, up to RM6.83/d for general population using catering service. This study serves as a guide for central and local government nutrition policy and decision makin