Fafo and health and nutrition

Collection and analysis of health and nutrition data is a key component of Fafo’s international research. Most of the surveys that Fafo carry out have a significant component of health and nutrition. Health and nutrition make up two of the standard modules of the living conditions survey questionnaire.

Rapid assessment of overall health situation: physical and psychological health
An important aim of Fafo’s work on health is to obtain a rapid assessment of the overall health situation of individuals. This is achieved by using a number of key questions based on international standard tests for cross-cultural health evaluation.

Health infrastructure
Individuals secure their health partly by depending on the infrastructure that a society can provide. This includes health centres, hospitals, medical personnel as well as physical infrastructure like water and sewerage. Through its surveys Fafo maps these factors and is able to provide a comprehensive picture of the health infrastructure available.

Use and cost of health services
Availability of health services is only one factor that that determines use of health services. Another is the cost, both economic and non-economic. Fafo maps both frequency of visits to health facilities, the type of personnel that give assistance as well as the costs associated with the visits.

Maternal and child health
An important part of the standard living conditions is maternal and child health. Questions that aim to determine maternal mortality levels are sometimes included in surveys. Other aspects of maternal health, such as health visits during pregnancy and after delivery are also covered. Child health is usually considered through a focus on common childhood diseases, breast feeding and vaccination status.

Anthropometry of children
Measuring height, weight and arm circumference of children are routinely carried out in Fafo surveys. Fafo staff has long experience in anthropometric measurement and analysis and has published internationally on methodological aspects of such measurement in the context of survey work.

Finding ways to measure dietary intake in large scale surveys
Malnutrition is caused both by lack of adequate food and health problems. However, it is a challenge to measure dietary intake in large scale surveys since the data requirements are very large. Therefore Fafo is developing methods to assess the quality of dietary intake without having to measure exact food intake at the individual level.

In context
Health in context: Fafo usually collects health and nutrition data as part of multi topic surveys. This gives the analyst an unique opportunity to grasp how health and nutrition status is determined by social factors.