The Nutrition and Health of Women and Children in the Aftermath of Natural Disasters

Abstract

Natural disasters have an enormous impact on the lives and well-being of people in many parts of the world. When a disaster occurs, it causes massive damage to people's livelihoods. Although a household is automatically disrupted after experiencing a natural disaster (floods, earthquakes, mudslides, etc.), the accessibility of food commodities is often the most negatively impacted. Since pre-disaster periods are already challenging in the context of providing sufficient food within poverty-stricken areas, natural disasters leave a trail of vulnerable and disadvantaged people who cannot acquire an adequate amount of nutritious food necessary for survival. The inability to maintain consumption levels exposes households to food insecurities – insecurities experienced particularly by women, who head households. Women are more susceptible to food scarcity and lose the ability to sustain their families’ livelihood due to the loss of seeds, livestock, and food, in general. Natural cataclysms, however, not only hamper access to nutritious food, but also considerably affect women's and children's health conditions. In countries like Tajikistan, there is a small body of research that assesses the impact of hazardous events on women's and children's health and nutrition in the aftermath of disasters. This study seeks to provide insights into the access of balanced diets to families in post-disaster situations and analyzes how disasters impact the health of affected people.