6.6 Urban: resident populations

Emergency SFPs for resident urban populations may be necessary where large-scale harvest failure has led to massive inflation of food prices, or removal of government subsidies or general economic decline is causing economic hardship for large sections of the population. However, assessing the need for an emergency SFP based upon levels of malnutrition or general ration adequacy can be very problematic. The population density and the highly stratified nature of urban society would necessitate large sample sizes for nutritional surveys. Furthermore, the extremely diverse nature of urban economic activity (much of it based upon the 'black' economy) would make it very difficult to assess the adequacy of general rations for urban populations. The decision to implement an emergency SFP would therefore most probably need to be taken on some other basis, such as changes in the price of key staple foods, rising levels of unemployment and associated begging in the streets, and increased numbers of cases of malnutrition being seen at urban health centres and hospitals.

The need for an urban emergency SFP would probably necessitate large numbers of feeding centres because of high population density. Many of these centres could be attached to the existing health infrastructure, while some might be operated through schools or other public buildings. This may lead to a situation where large numbers of local agencies are implementing emergency SFPs. The risk here is that the overall programme is poorly coordinated, with large variation in design and data procedures between centres. In order to avoid this it is important that one agency should assume overall responsibility for the programme in order to encourage a standardised and professional approach. One advantage of implementing an emergency SFP within an urban setting is that it is likely that there will be no shortage of well qualified local staff who can implement a well-run programme.