CE-DAT - Centre for research on the epidemiology of disasters

Anthropometry is the measurement of individuals. In humanitarian emergencies, anthropometry is used in field surveys to measure the height and weight of children to identify the proportion of the population that is suffering from acute malnutrition (wasting).

All crises characterized by extreme vulnerability that display a combination of the following features:
1) The government is unwilling or incapable to effectively respond, resulting in a need for external assistance;
2) political oppression or armed conflict;
3) displacement;
4) increased mortality.

Crude Mortality Rate

The Crude Mortality Rate (CMR) is the most important public health indicator to monitor in crisis situations. It estimates the rate at which members of a population have died over a defined period of time. A CMR is applicable to an entire population, including both sexes and all age groups.

In emergency situations, the most commonly used population denominator and time period for CMR is per 10,000 population per day (i.e. number of deaths/10,000/day). However, it can also be per 1,000 population per year, or per 1,000 population per month.

It is important to note that demographers refer to this mortality indicator as the Crude Death Rate (CDR).

Expert Group

A geographic index

The nutritional status of a population is one of the basic indicators, together with CMR, to assess the severity of a humanitarian crisis.

In an emergency situation, the weight and height of children between 6 and 59 months are measured and the results are used as a proxy indicator for the general health of the entire population. The index of weight for height, which reflects recent weight loss or gain, is the best indicator for acute malnutrition.

Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) is calculated with the Z-score defined as a weight-for-height index less than -2 standard deviations from the mean weight of a reference population of children of the same height and/or having oedema.

Global Acute Malnutrition as calculated with the Median (%M) is defined as all children falling under 80% of the median in the index of weight-for-height median, and/or having Oedema, as compared to the median weight of children of the same height in the reference population.

Thresholds

Different GAM thresholds exist that can be used to categorize emergency situations. However, a GAM value of more than 10% generally identifies an emergency. Commonly used threholds for GAM are:

<5% = acceptable
5% to 9.9% = poor
10% to 14.9% = serious
>15% = critical

A weight-for-age measure for severe malnutrition.

Global Underweight is calculated with the Z-score defined as a weight-for-age index less than -2 standard deviations from the mean weight of a reference population of children of the same height and/or having oedema.

Global Underweight as calculated with the Median (%M) is defined as all children falling under 80% of the median in the index of weight-for-age median, and/or having Oedema, as compared to the median weight of children of the same height in the reference population.

Harvard Humanitarian Initiative

Infant Mortality Rate

KML is the language CE-DAT uses to export all our georeferenced information. KML stands for Keyhole Markup Language (Keyhole was a company specialized in geospatial data visualization, later acquired by Google), and is a XML subset aimed at representing structured geographic information on the web.

KML is now controlled by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), an international standards body.

The nutritional status of a population is one of the basic indicators, together with CMR, to assess the severity of a humanitarian crisis.

In an emergency situation, the weight and height of children between 6 and 59 months are measured and the results are used as a proxy indicator for the general health of the entire population. The index of weight for height, which reflects recent weight loss or gain, is the best indicator for acute malnutrition.

Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) is calculated with the Z-score is defined as a weight-for-height index between -2 and -3 standard deviations from the mean weight of the reference distribution for children of the same height and/or having oedema.

Moderate Acute Malnutrition as calculated with the Median (%M) is defined as all children falling between 70% and 80% of the median in the index of weight-for-height median, and/or having Oedema, as compared to the median weight of children of the same height in the reference population.

Moderate Underweight is calculated with the Z-score is defined as a weight-for-age index between -2 and -3 standard deviations from the mean weight of the reference distribution for children of the same height and/or having oedema.

Moderate Underweight as calculated with the Median (%M) is defined as all children falling between 70% and 80% of the median in the index of weight-for-age median, and/or having Oedema, as compared to the median weight of children of the same height in the reference population.

National Centre for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the US Department of Health and Human Services.

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Severe Chronic Malnutrition (SCM) is calculated with the Z-score defined as a height-for-age index less than -3 standard deviations from the mean weight of a reference population of children of the same height and/or having oedema.

Severe Chronic Malnutrition as calculated with the Median (%M) is defined as all children falling under 70% of the median in the index of weight-for-height median, and/or having Oedema, as compared to the median weight of children of the same height in the reference population.

SMART (Standardized Monitoring and Assessment of Relief and Transitions) is an inter-agency initiative launched in 2002 by a network of organizations and humanitarian practitioners including; donors, policymakers, and leading experts in emergency epidemiology and nutrition, food security, early warning systems, and demography.

The SMART methodology is a standardized field-survey method to gather data on the two most vital public health indicators to assess the severity of a humanitarian crisis: the nutritional status of children under-five and the mortality rate of the population .

The Under-5 Mortality Rate (U5MR) is a primary indicator to monitor the health status of children in complex emergencies. It estimates the rate at which children below the age of 5 have died over a defined period of time.

In emergency situations, the most commonly used population denominator and time period for U5MR is per 10,000 under-5 population per day (i.e. number of deaths/10,000/day). However, it can also be per 1,000 under-5 population per year, or per 1,000 under-5 population per month.

It is important to note that demographers refer to the number of deaths in children Under-5/10,000/day as the Under-5 Death Rate (U5DR), while U5MR for them refers to the probability of dying bore the age of five, expressed per 1,000 live births.