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Glossary
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Access
Usually defined in terms of geographical access, it is difficult to define in operational terms since the availability of the supply (existence of services) is not the same as their utilization (geographical, transport, informational and financial barriers, etc). Given the problems associated with measurement, utilization is used as a proxy of access (adapted from Donaldson and Gerard, 1993). In a humanitarian context, access is often used from a service providers' point of view to indicate the extent to which beneficiaries can be reached by assistance that is influenced by security, capacity and cost. |
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Active Surveillance
Collection of demographic or health information through door-to-door surveys or other tools. |
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AFASS
Acceptable, Feasible, Affordable, Sustainable and Safe (AFASS): Refers to guidelines on infant feeding for HIV-positive mothers. Current guidelines state: When replacement feeding is not acceptable, feasible, affordable, sustainable and safe (AFASS), exclusive breastfeeding is recommended during the first months of life. Based on the principle of informed choice, health workers are encouraged to give HIV infected women the best available information on the risks and benefits of each feeding method, with 'specific guidance in selecting the option most likely to be suitable for their situation.' |
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Anthropometry
Body measurements such as weight, height and Mid Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC), which are used as a direct measure of an individuals' nutrition and growth – their nutrition status. Collectively the nutrition status of a population may be used for making comparisons over time or within other populations |
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At-risk Populations
A group that may suffer the effects of drought, conflict, food insecurity, or other phenomena resulting in humanitarian hardship. Includes but not limited to vulnerable groups. |
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Attack Rate (AR)
An incidence rate, when it relates to the cumulative incidence rate in an epidemic
Attack rate= Number of cases during time interval (t) X 100, 000
Average population during same time (t) |
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Bias
The degree to which the conclusion drawn from data observations deviates from the true situation |
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Breastmilk Substitute (BMS)
Any food being marketed or otherwise represented as a partial or total replacement for breastmilk, whether or not suitable for that purpose |
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Case Fatality Rate (CFR)
The number of people who die of a disease divided by the number of people who have the disease in a defined time interval (in %) |
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Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF)
The Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) is a fund created by the United Nations for more timely and reliable humanitarian assistance to victims of emergencies. With reserves of $500 million, funds can be made available within three to four days. |
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Cluster Sampling
Restricts the sample to a limited number of geographical areas, known as clusters. For each of the geographic areas chosen, the team selects a sample by simple random sampling; then combines these sub-samples to get an overall sample; e.g. 30 clusters of at least 30 households are sampled. |
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Community-based Therapeutic Care (CTC)
Program designed to address the needs of acutely malnourished children. Aims to maximize converge and access. Components of CTC:
- Supplementary feeding program (SFP)
- Outpatient Therapeutic Program (OTP)
- Stabilization centre (SC)
- Community Mobilization
(Taken from Community-based Therapeutic Care (CTC): A Field Manual Valid International 2006) |
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Convenience Sampling
Relies on sampling those respondents most easy to assess. This type of sampling is by far the most used in emergency situations. |
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Coverage
Percentage of the total affected population that at any given moment can be reached by a service |
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Crude Mortality Rate (CMR)
Frequency of number of deaths (all ages) in proportion to total population over a given period of time (usually expressed as deaths/10,000/day) |
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Disaster
A serious disruption of the functioning of a society, causing widespread human, material or environmental losses, which exceed the ability of the affected society to cope using its own resources (UN Department of Humanitarian Affairs) |
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Edema
The presence of excessive amounts of fluid in the intercellular tissue; the key clinical sign of kwashiorkor, a severe form of protein-energy malnutrition, carrying a very high mortality risk in young children |
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Epidemic
The occurrence of more cases of a disease than would be expected in a community or region during a given time period. |
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Emergency Obstetrics Care (EmOC)
Basic EmOC six interventions: parentral antibiotics, parentral oxytoxics, parentral sedatives and/or anticonvulsants, assisted delivery, manual removal of retained placenta, manual vacuum aspiration of retained products (MVA)
Comprehensive EmOC: basic plus obstetrical surgery, anaesthesia, blood transfusion |
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Excess Mortality
Mortality above what would be expected based on the non-crisis mortality rate in the population. Excess mortality is such the mortality that is attributable to the crisis conditions. It can be expressed as the rate (the difference between observed and the non-crisis mortality rates), or as total number of excess deaths. |
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Exclusive Breastfeeding (EBF)
An infant receiving only breastmilk and no other liquids or solids, not even water, with the exception of medicines |
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Famine
A condition of populations in which a substantial increase in deaths is associated with inadequate food consumption. |
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Food Security
All people, at all levels and all times, have access to a safe and nutritious food supply |
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Fragile States
Entire countries considered to be in the emergency or post-emergency phase. |
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Gender-based Violence (GBV)
Is an umbrella term for any harmful act that is perpetrated against a person's will, and that is based on socially ascribed (gender) differences between males and females (IASC 2005) |
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General Food Distribution (GFD)
Distribution of a basket of food commodities in a quantity sufficient to meet requirements |
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Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) Rate
Prevalence of children 6-59 months<-2 z-scores weight-for-height or <80% weight-for-height median by NCHS standards, and/or oedema; reflects recent weight loss |
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Health
A state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity (WHO Constitution). |
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Humanitarian Space
The access and freedom for humanitarian organizations to assess and meet humanitarian needs (European Commission's Directorate for Humanitarian Aid) |
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Incidence Rate
The number of new cases of a disease that occur during a specific period of time in a population at risk of developing the disease. /1000/m (Sphere) |
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Independence
The autonomy of humanitarian agency from the political, economic, or military (international or national) influence that might exist in the area where humanitarian action is being implemented (Stockhold GHD) |
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Initial Rapid Assessment (IRA) Tool
A flexible, multi-sectoral tool designed to:
- Provide a quick overview of how a population has been affected by crisis including who is likely to be most vulnerable and why, and
- Identify priorities for the immediate response within and across sectors for an initial comprehensive humanitarian response |
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Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)
Persons or groups of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized State border (Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement) |
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Mid-Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC)
Mid Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) is the circumference of the left upper arm, measured at the mid-point between the tip of the shoulder and the tip of the elbow. In children, MUAC is often used for the assessment of nutritional status. |
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Neutrality
Humanitarian action must not favor any side in an armed conflict or other dispute where such action is carried out |
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Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is a United Nations body designed to strengthen the UN's response to complex emergencies and natural disasters. |
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Passive Surveillance
As opposed to active surveillance (see above), passive surveillance tracks demographic or health information through clinic visits. |
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Precision
1. Is the quality of being sharply defined through exact detail - is a function of sampling variation. Except for full enumeration, it will be imperfect even in absence of measurement error. Lower coverage results therefore in lesser precision; smaller samples go hand in hand with wider confidence intervals.
2. The quality of being sharply defined through exact detail (Last, 2001) |
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Preparedness
Aims to limit the impact of a disaster by structuring the response and providing quick, effective actions after the disaster. Addresses actions in both the pre-disaster and post-disaster phases. Includes early warning systems (FOG OFDA) |
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Proxy
Indicator of something which is otherwise immeasurable, either due to its complex nature or because it has not previously been measured (Green, 1999) |
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Purposive Sampling
Is based on previous consideration as to who might be able to provide valuable or specific information to the assessor on some aspect of the study, e.g. under-5s for prevalence of malnutrition, or health workers with regard to local disease patterns. |
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Qualitative
Qualitative methods are usually exploratory and provide background descriptive information that may be used to describe relationships between points of interest, such as malnutrition and various causal factors |
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Quantitative
Quantitative methods are intended to measure the degree to which some feature of interest is present, such as the prevalence of malnutrition. Quantitative information can be collected using qualitative methods |
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Rapid Needs Assessment
The rapid but structured collection of information to determine the impact of an event, identify the basic needs of the population that require immediate response, and define the aspects and the areas on which more detailed investigations should focus. Can be applied as a valid research tool to quickly and immediately gather information in place of lengthier, standard tools. |
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Ready to use Therapeutic Food (RUTF)
Are specialized products for use in the management of severe acute malnutrition, typically in community and home based setting. They might be locally produced or manufactured at national or international level |
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REDI Team
Regional REDI teams function as the 2nd line of defense in humanitarian emergency response and support local staff when country offices need additional capacity for small- or medium-scale emergencies. REDI is a SC-specific term for this type of team. |
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Refugee
Person who, owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country (UN 1951 Refugee Convention) |
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Reliability
1. Has to do with consistency and refers to whether or not you get the same answer by using an instrument or question to measure something more than once. If the instruments used (e.g. baby scales) are reliable, different assessors using them should produce the same results.
2. Refers to whether or not you get the same answer by using an instrument or question to measure something more than once (Russel Bernard) |
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Risk
Possible effects of human actions or natural events, which are assessed as unwelcome by the vast majority of human beings
Risk = threat x vulnerability
capacity |
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Sensitivity
Likeliness of a test to show a true positive. Sensitivity is calculated by the following formula: True positives/True positives + False negative |
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Simple Random Sampling
A survey method in which every member of the target population is equally likely to be selected and where the selection of a particular member of the target population has no effect on the other selections. |
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Sexual Violence
Any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, unwanted sexual comments or advances, or acts to traffic a person's sexuality, using coercion, threats of harm or physical force, by any person regardless of relationship to the victim, in any setting, including but not limited to home and work' (IASC 2005) |
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Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) Rate
Prevalence of children 6-59 months<-3 z-scores weight-for-height or <70% weight-for-height median by NCHS standards, and/or oedema |
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Spatial Sampling
Using technology to randomly choose locations and identify samples to estimate population or other census information |
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Specificity
Likeliness of a test to show a true negative. The formula for specificity is:
True negative/true negative + False positive |
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Stratified Random Sampling
Requires the assessors to divide the population into categories (or strata);
then select members from each category by simple or systematic random sampling, and then to combine these for an overall sample. |
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Stunting
Reflects height deficit that develops over a long period of time and is defined as <-3 z-scores usually in children aged 6-59 months |
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Surveillance
A monitoring system that tracks specific events over time within a particular population (such as births, deaths, disease cases)… to compare trends over time and to monitor situations in a timely manner (UNHCR, adapted) |
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Survey
The technique of collecting and analyzing data from a representative sample of the total population. |
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Systematic Sampling
Involves choosing, for example, every fifth or tenth member on a numbered list. This may be inaccurate if the lists are incomplete or structured in non-random ways. |
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Under 5 Mortality Rate
Frequency of number of deaths (of children under 5 years old) in proportion to total population under 5 years old over a given period of time (usually expressed as deaths/10,000/day) |
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Validity
The degree to which a measurement measures what it intends to measure and refers to accuracy, trustworthiness of instruments, data and findings of the assessment. A typical case where the assessment design fails to measure the intended concept is missing the difference between a health centre as building and as a functioning service provider. |
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Vulnerability
The characteristics of a person or group in terms of their capacity to anticipate, cope with, resist and recover from the impact of a natural or man-made hazard (IFRC)
Internal risk factor of a subject, object or system exposed to a hazard that corresponds to its intrinsic susceptibility to damage (FOG OFDA) |
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Wasting
Defined as weight for height <-2 z-scores or <80% weight for height median by NCHS standards, usually in children aged 6-59 months; a condition that results from the loss of both body tissue and fat. |
