UNICEF, taking the lead among agencies seeking to respond to a situation of exceptional drought in three northwestern departments of Nicaragua in 2002, asked CIET to do a rapid assessment of the food, nutritional, health and water situation in order to better target the emergency response. Some 1130 households in twenty-two communities in the three departments of Occidente, Segovias and Matagalpa were surveyed and 505 children under 4 years of age were measured for length and weight. Leaders in each community as well as health workers in the nearest health facility were also interviewed.

 

Data were gathered on food security, nutritional anthropometry, breastfeeding, diarrhoea prevalence and duration, response capacity of the health services, water consumption and costs, water quality and existing water surveillance by the health services.