Menu ENN Search

Nutritional Risk Factors in Older Refugees

Summary of published paper1

This woman is a widow and has nine people in her household to help provide for

A study has recently been published on nutritional risk factors for older refugees. One rationale for the study was, given that older people have diminished ability to regain weight (without extra nutritional support) after experiencing a stressful situation, it is important to prevent deterioration in their nutritional status in the first place.

The research took place between October 1995 and July 1996 in a Rwandan refugee camp (Chabalisa 11) in the Karagwe district of Tanzania. The camp was established in October 1994. Based on HelpAge International's camp register, a random stratified sample of 1000 households was taken. An 85% response rate generated 826 subjects for analysis. An extensive, structured questionnaire was developed with questions addressing demography, history of movements, socio-economic status, customary physical activities and support. Frequency of consumption of 13 food groups available to the refugees was recorded in the questionnaire. Twelve case studies, involving four or five home visits and lasting several hours, were conducted by a team of two interviewers who had received special training. The same two interviewers also conducted group interviews to collect other qualitative information.

Specific groups were formed with separate sexes - very old (mean age 80 years), widows, elderly labourers and home visitors. Discussion topics included food availability during the year, typical daily diets, firewood, the concept of vulnerability, and waged labour by the elderly.

The study identified the following important areas of nutritional risk for older refugees;

This man is 85 years old, and lives with his disabled wife, daughter, and her seven children

A number of recommendations are made by the study authors to reduce nutritional risk of older refugees. These include awareness raising amongst refugees themselves and humanitarian organisations, and risk assessment and interventions to improve access to an adequate and appropriate diet. In terms of assessment and analysis, age and sex-segregated data should be collected to provide a picture of the nature and magnitude of the problems, as well as for monitoring and evaluation purposes. In an emergency situation, older refugees at risk should be systematically identified as early as possible. In addition to physical criteria, social, economic and psychological criteria are useful.

The study authors also recommend that in order to strengthen social networks, effort should be made to trace family members or friends of lone older refugees. Involvement of older refugees in community activities should be encouraged by making use of their skills, for example in productive activities, passing on knowledge and looking after other elderly, children, or anyone else in need.

Special needs of vulnerable older people should be recognised and, as much as possible, be addressed in the family or community. If special services for older people are desirable, they should be integrated within general assistance programmes to prevent isolation resulting from visibly targeted interventions.

Show footnotes

1Pieterse, S and Ismail, S (2003). Nutritional risk factors for older refugees. Disasters, volume 27, no 1, pp 16-36. March 2003

More like this

FEX: Nutritional status and handgrip strength in older refugees

Summary of research1 Handgrip strength measurement in the Chabilissa II camp, Tanzania 1995 A recent study set out to demonstrate the relationship between nutritional status...

FEX: Methods for Assessing Malnutrition in Older People

A Summary of Initial Findings In the first edition of Field Exchange we reported on an ongoing research project by Helpage and the LSHTM which was developing methods for...

FEX: Assessing malnutrition in older people

During emergencies the elderly are often identified as a vulnerable group who appear susceptible to malnutrition and disease. At the moment there are no standards for assessing...

FEX: Insight into experiences of older Syrian refugees in Lebanon

Summary of report1 This summary was prepared by Isabelle Saadeh Feghali, Coordinator at the Caritas Lebanon Migrant Centre, Beirut, Lebanon. Caritas Lebanon Migrant Centre...

FEX: Management of hypertension and diabetes for the Syrian refugees and host community in selected health facilities in Lebanon

By Maguy Ghanem Kallab Maguy Ghanem Kallab is the health coordinator of HelpAge International in Lebanon. She holds a Master's degree in Public Health and is currently...

FEX: Better understanding vulnerability in Serbia

By Kate Ogden Since July 2000, Kate Ogden has been a food security advisor in ACF headquarters, Paris. Previously she spent three years working in food security and nutrition...

FEX: Addressing the nutritional needs of older people in emergency situations: ideas for action

Summary of Review1 Help Age International (HAI) has produced a preliminary review of the nutritional needs of older people in emergency situations. This is part of an ongoing...

FEX: Dietary Assessment of Camp Refugees

Summary of published research1 Mother breastfeeding twins in Mae La camp Approximately 140,000 refugees from Burma (Myanmar) live in ten camps along the Thailand-Burma...

FEX: The social life of nutrition among Syrian refugees in Jordan

By Luigi Achilli and Raymond Apthorpe Luigi Achilli is research associate at the Institut Français du Proche-Orient (IFPO) in Amman. He holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. in...

FEX: The situation of older refugees and refugees with disabilities, injuries, and chronic diseases in the Syria crisis

By Lydia de Leeuw Lydia de Leeuw is the Regional Inclusion Programme Manager for both HelpAge International and Handicap International in the Syria crisis. She has extensive...

FEX: Needs of older people in tsunami response

Ramasamy, age 75, at Akkrapattai Relief Camp, Nagapattinam, India According to a recent HelpAge report, the tsunami relief effort, following the Indian ocean earthquake on...

FEX: Older people, nutrition and emergencies in Ethiopia

By Vanessa Tilstone Vanessa Tilstone has worked for HelpAge International in Ethiopia for the last 3 years as the Country Programme Director and has worked previously in...

FEX: Adaptations to SMART surveys in the context of COVID-19 in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

View this article as a pdf By Md. Lalan Miah, Bijoy Sarker, Jogie Abucejo Agbogan, Brigitte Tonon, Mary Chelang'at Koech and Md. Shahin Emtazur Rahman Md. Lalan Miah is...

FEX: Potential of Using QBmix to Prevent Micronutrient Deficiencies in Emergencies

By Evelyn Depoortere, Epicentre Evelyn Depoortere is currently a medical epidemiologist for Epicentre. Previously she worked on several MSF missions, including Southern Sudan...

FEX: Nutrition among men and household food security in an internally displaced persons camp in Kenya

Summary of research* Location: Kenya What we know: Internally displaced persons (IDP) are vulnerable to nutrition and food insecurity. What this article adds: A 2013 study...

FEX: Anthropometric cut-off points for older children and adolescents in Syria

By Paluku Bahwere View this article as a pdf Paluku Bahwere is a paediatrician with over 25 years of experience in operational research and programming in the fields of...

en-net: IYCF and Nutritional Assessment Survey during Ramadan

Can we conduct IYCF and Nutritional Assessment Survey during Ramadan? If yes, are there scientific papers/previous surveys done to back this up? Thank you. As we all know,...

en-net: Nutritional status and vulnerability of older adults/older people (aged 50 +)

Happy New Year to En-net colleagues, I have recently been contracted by HelpAge International (in partnership with NutritionWorks) to write a module on nutrition in older...

FEX: Letter on 'silent emergency' in India, by Rita Bhatia

Geneva Foundation Patrick Brooke Janice Pritchard-Jones Joseph Gettier Dear Editors, Having read issue 4 of Field Exchange I wish to comment on the article "Novel...

FEX: Letter on older people, nutrition and emergencies, by Yvonne Grellety and Michael Golden (with response by Vanessa Tilstone)

Dear Editor, We refer to the Article by Vanessa Tilstone "Older people, Nutrition and emergencies in Ethiopia" (issue number 14, November 2001). We agree that the welfare of...

Close

Reference this page

Nutritional Risk Factors in Older Refugees. Field Exchange 21, March 2004. p7. www.ennonline.net/fex/21/nutritional

(ENN_2537)

Close

Download to a citation manager

The below files can be imported into your preferred reference management tool, most tools will allow you to manually import the RIS file. Endnote may required a specific filter file to be used.