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OCHA Policy Brief on Gendered Drivers, Risks and Impacts of Food Insecurity in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (2023) CC

It is widely understood that the food insecurity crisis in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa is one of the world’s fastest growing and most neglected crises. It lacks sufficient global focus, resources and urgency. As in so many crises, women and girls are disproportionately affected and shoulder t...he consequences of protracted neglect, with unconscionable impacts on their safety, life chances and agency. Gaining a holistic view of the gendered drivers, risks and impacts of food insecurity in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa is difficult. This is due to a lack of data and prioritization, and the large geographical and socioeconomic terrain covered by both regions. However, what we do know about this crisis is more than enough to urgently address the needs of women and girls. An OCHA discussion paper on this topic (which will be published imminently, and from which this policy brief is drawn) found that there is: A strong risk of profound regression in gender equality gains made to date in the countries of concern, including on education, sexual and reproductive health, and the economic independence of women and girls (with knock-on effects on broader humanitarian and development outcomes). An increasing challenge to reverse what must be recognized as a protracted and growing gender-based violence (GBV) emergency in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa. The food insecurity crisis in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa is protracted, multidimensional and highly gendered, with spiralling impacts on gender equality and food security outcomes. It is driven by interwoven and overlapping factors, including climate change, political instability, conflict, socioeconomic conditions, migration and displacement and, more recently, COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine. Interlinked with these factors are gendered structural drivers of food insecurity, including deeply entrenched gender inequalities and harmful social norms. Gendered risks and impacts of food insecurity include alarming limitations on access to education, sexual and reproductive health rights, women’s agency and participation, and dramatic increases in different existing forms of GBV and the emergence of new ones. Recognition of such gendered dimensions of food insecurity and of the need for a multisectoral approach in the response is key to addressing the crisis, along-side sustained commitment and adequate allocation of resources. This policy brief draws out key findings from the OCHA discussion paper on this topic, which includes a desk review of studies, assessments and reports, and interviews with local women’s organizations on the front lines of the food insecurity crisis in communities across both regions. Below are the most pressing gendered drivers, risks and impacts of food insecurity (not in order of priority), as well as key gaps in the current humanitarian response to food insecurity, and recommendations to take forward. more

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World Heart Federation Roadmap for Hypertension – A 2021 Update

Jemoon, P.; Séverin, T.; Amodeo, C. et al. Global Heart (2021) CC

The World Heart Federation (WHF) Roadmap series covers a large range of cardiovascular conditions. These Roadmaps identify potential roadblocks and their solutions to improve the prevention, detection and management of cardiovascular diseases and provide a generic global framework available for loca... more

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Influencing food environments for healthy diets

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FAO (2016) C2

Food environments are usually defined as the settings with all the different types of food made available and accessible to people as they go about their daily lives. That is, the range of food in supermarkets, small retail outlets, wet markets, street food stalls, coffee shops, tea houses, s...chool canteens, restaurants, and all the other venues where people buy and eat food. These environments differ enormously depending on the context. They can be extensive and diverse, with a seemingly endless array of options and price ranges, or they can be sparse, with very few options on offer. Because they determine what food consumers can access at a given moment in time, at what price, and with what degree of convenience, food environments both constrain and prompt the consumer’s choice.Food environments are influenced by the food systems which supply them, and vice versa. Food systems encompass the entire range of activities, people and institutions involved in the production, processing, marketing, consumption and disposal of food (FAO, 2013). They include but are not limited to food supply chains. Making food systems nutrition-sensitive can contribute to addressing all forms of malnutrition, as food systems determine whether the food needed for good nutrition are available, affordable, acceptable and of adequate quantity and quality. How closely food systems and food environments are interrelated and interdependent, and the degree to which external factors affect nutrition outcomes, varies from setting to setting.Many of today’s food systems and food environments are challenged in supporting consumer choices that are consistent with healthy diets and good nutrition. Consumers are not making choices based on nutrition and health, and poor diet is now the number one risk factor for death and disability worldwide (GBD, 2015). Food systems that do not enable healthy diets are increasingly recognized as an underlying cause of malnutrition (GLOPAN, 2016), and malnutrition, irrespective of form, has a huge cost. Economic costs associated with undernutrition are estimated at $1-2 trillion per year, about 2-3% of global GDP (FAO, 2013); the global economic cost of obesity and associated diet-related non-communicable diseases is estimated at $2 trillion per year, about 2.8% of global GDP (McKinsey, 2014). Influencing food environments for promoting healthy diets is an emerging strategy to address today’s nutrition challenges. more

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A Roadmap to combat postpartum haemorrhage between 2023 and 2030

World Health Organization WHO (2023) C_WHO

WHO today released its first roadmap to tackle postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) – defined as excessive bleeding after childbirth - which affects millions of women annually and is the world’s leading cause of maternal deaths. Despite being preventable and treatable, PPH results in around 70 000 de... more

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ACF – Sierra Leone Case Study: Community Led Ebola Management and Eradication (CLEME) - Trigger Behavioural Change to strengthen community’s resilience to Ebola Outbreaks

Action contre le Faim (2015)

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Community Health Volunteers (CHVs). Basic Modules Handbook

Republic of Kenya, Ministry of Health (2013) C2

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Surviving Ebola: Public perceptions of governance and the outbreak response in Liberia

International Alert (2015)

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Where the heart is: Meeting the psychosocial needs of young children in the context of HIV/AIDS

Richter, L., Foster, G. and Sherr, L. Bernard van Leer Foundation (2006) C2

An output of a series of workshops on psychosocial support held in 2004-2005 by the Bernard van Leer Foundation and the Coalition on Children Affected by AIDS. Authors Linda Richter, Geoff Foster and Lorraine Sherr discuss the issues surrounding psychosocial care and support for children made vulner... more

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Community-Based Surveillance: guiding principles

International Federation of Red Cross And Red Crescent Societies (2017) C1

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Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT) - Sleeping Sickness

Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative DNDi (2008) C2

At the forefront of DNDi’s efforts to develop new treatments is the need to understand the realities and treatment needs of patients and health care staff in the field. The ultimate goal for human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) is a truly simplified treatment which can be orally administered, impl... more

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Ending Extreme Poverty: The Call from Catholic Social Thought

Miller A. Integritas (2015) C1

Integritas 4.3 (Fall 2014), pp. 1-30. doi: 10.6017/integritas.v4i3p1

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Community Mental Health - Implementation Guidelines
recommended

Christoffel-Blindenmission (CBM) (2010)

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Community use of face masks
recommended

African Union; Africa CDC Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (2020) C1

Update 1 October 2020. This document provides guidance to Member States on the effective use of face masks/coverings in the community by individuals without COVID-19 symptoms in order to reduce potential transmission of SARS-CoV-2.a It also provides advice on the use of masks during home care for ... more

Tracking official development assistance for reproductive health in conflict-affected countries: 2002—2011

Patel P.; Dahab M.; Tanabe M. et al. BJOG An International Journal of Obstetics and Gynaecology (2016) CC

To provide information on trends on official development assistance (ODA) disbursement patterns for reproductive health activities in 18 conflict-affected countries

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Promoting Rights and Community Living for Children with Psychosocial Disabilities
recommended

World Health Organization (WHO) (2015) C_WHO

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Guidelines for Collaborating with Community Physicians

National Tuberculosis Center, New Jersey Medical School (2003) C2

Treating the Patient with Tuberculosis

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The role of community health workers in the re-engineering of primary health care in rural Eastern Cape

Karl le Roux, Ingrid M le Roux, Nokwanele Mbewu & Emily Davis South African Family Practice (2015) CC

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The Role of Faith, Values and Ethics in Strengthening Action for Nature and Environmental Governance

UN Environment Programme (2020) CC

This concept report was prepared by Faith for Earth Initiative in support of the efforts of the Government of Iceland to put forth a new resolution during UNEA 5.2 1