A Nutrition and Food Security A ssessment of the Dry Zone of Myanmar in June and July 2013

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: "This assessment of the rural Dry Zone reveals the
nutrition situation to be a concern, with high
rates of wasting and medium rates of stunting, high rates of low birth weight and high rates
of undernutrition among mothers; particularly
those who are pregnant and/or lactating. The
pattern of indicators suggests that flood plains and irrigated areas are best off,
and the
highlands may be worst,
but the situation is far from acceptable in the Dry Zone as a whole.
A wide range of likely causes of undernutrition needs addressing. Acute and chronic
malnutrition have shared determinants and there is a need to tackle one to tackle the other.
Children’s and mother’s nutrition status are associated, and a child’s birth weight is an
important determinant of their later nutrition status. This
reminds
us of the imortance of
the 1000 day window
of opportunity between a child’s conception and their second birthday,
and the need to take a life-cycle approach; paying p
articular attention to pregnant and
breastfeeding mothers. Dietary factors and their determinants seem
likely
to be particularly
important drivers of undernutrition as do
deficiencies in water, sanitation, hygiene and the
public health environment.
An absence of consistent associations between household
economic status and nutrition indicators is likely
in part because of widespread poverty
as well
as the focus on data from the current situation.
However, analysis of associations revealed
only small contributions of any specific explanatory variable to the variance of any of the
nutrition outcomes
(including indicators of food security)
which together with analysis of risk
factors reinforces that there is not just two or three important causes of undernutrition
in the
Dry Zone.
Rather,a multi-sector approach is required for malnutrition prevention and
nutrition status improvement.