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INTRODUCTIONConflicts leads to many humanitarian crisis situations, one being migration of population

from a conflict area to a non-conflict area. Similarly, due to the internal conflict situationthat existed more than two decades in Somalia, emigration as well as migration within the

country took place at different times in varying numbers.

ObjectivesThe main objective of the survey was to obtain information of nutritional status and the

main influencing factors

Nutritional assessment is an integral part of patient care since nutritional status affects a patients response to

illness. Attention to nutritional status is especially important in pediatric patients as they are also undergoing the

complex processes of growth and development, which are infl uenced by the genetic makeup of the individual and

coex-isting medical illness in addition to nutritional status. Thus, the assessment of nutritional and growth status is

an essential part of clinical evalu-ation and care in the pediatric setting.The assessment should allow for the early

detection of both nutrient deficiencies and excesses. There is no single nutrition measure-ment that is best; therefore,a combination of dif-ferent measures is required. Growth is an important indicator of health and nutritional sta-tus of

a child, and a variety of growth charts are currently available to help with the assessment of growth. These include

the 2000 Centers for Dis-ease Control and Prevention (CDC) growth charts that represent the US population and the

2006 World Health Organization (WHO) growth charts. Each growth measurement performed needs to be accurate

and obtained at regular intervals. These longitudinal data will help identify at-risk patients and will allow the

monitoring of a patients clini-cal response to nutritional therapy.During infancy, childhood, and adolescence, many

changes in growth and body composition occur. Therefore, clinicians must understand nor-mal growth to recognize

abnormal patterns. Cli-nicians also need to recognize the nutritional changes that occur with acute and chronic dis-

ease. With the epidemic of pediatric obesity, the proper identifi cation of the overweight or obese patient is also

important. A brief nutritional screen-ing assessment may be used to identify patients in need of an in-depth

assessment. A typical nutri-tional screening includes a brief medical and dietary history (including feeding ability),

anthro-pometric measurements (eg, weight, stature), and possibly laboratory data. A full nutritional assess-ment

includes more detailed medical and dietary histories (including a measure of dietary intake), a complete physicalexamination, further anthro-pometric and body composition measurements, sexual and skeletal maturation,

laboratory data, and the estimation of nutritional requirements. A clinicians global assessment of the child based on

these objective data in addition to his or her clinical judgment is also important to consider in determining

nutritional status.

the fight against child and maternal undernutrition requires a two-fold approach,with the implementation and the scaling up of direct nutrition interventions combined with a multisectoral

preventive approach.

These interventions are to be combined with long-term multi-sectoral interventions that act on the

determinants of undernutrition like inadequate income, agricultural productivity, water supply andgender inequality. The promotion of nutritionally orientated interventions is expected to achieve

greater results, especially if interventions from different sectors include an indicator ofundernutrition to judge overall progress.

Best practice on national level consists of: Giving a high profile to nutrition and hunger; the commitment of the countrys government

and the political impetus to fight hunger and undernutrition are common to all studiedcountries. Adopting a multi-sectoral approach, involving a broad range of stakeholders and requiring

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coherence and coordination among sectors. Encouraging civil society ownership and boosting participation.

Adopting a multi-phase approach including both short and long term effective interventions; Ensuring institutionalised coordination. Ensuring financial commitment and long-term investment from the government and thedonors.