NUTRITION FOR YOUNG-CHILDREN AND THE DEVA LUATION OF THE CFA FRANCE

Developing countries frequently see their currency depreciated to vary ing degrees. The consequences of such monetary disturbances on the nut rition of young children are not well known, though children are the m ost vulnerable in nutritional terms. One year after the 50% devaluatio n of the CFA Franc (communaute financiere africaine, ''African Financi al community''), which took place on 12 January 1994 simultaneously in fourteen countries, nine of which are on the UNDP list of least devel oped countries, we wanted to find out the long-term effects of the dev aluation, and the strategies that families had adopted to cope with it . In Brazzaville, Congo, in December 1994, an epidemiological survey w as conducted on a representative sample of 893 children between the ag es of 4 and 12 months in two districts, and indicators of child nutrit ion were established. A comparable survey had been conducted in Decemb er 1993, before the devaluation. In Senegal, in the absence of a previ ous survey which could be used in comparison, a qualitative survey usi ng RAP methodology, was conducted in January 1995 in two towns near th e capital. In three districts in each of these towns, a cluster of ten plots was chosen at random and surveyed, with a combination of semi-s tructured individual interviews with mothers (n = 60) and group interv iews with all the women together (n = 6). The information was put toge ther with interviews of 25 local traders selling food. In the Congo, c omparison of the two surveys shows that the practice of breast-feeding had hardly changed, nor had the age at which baby food was introduced (90% of children of 4-5 months take semi-solid and solid foods); on t he other hand, more children are being given the ordinary family meal earlier, at 6-9 months. The proportion of baby foods based on commerci ally imported flour has fallen (from 32% in 1993 to 18% in 1994), and has been replaced with local products based on maize; this change is m ore marked among poorer families. The low nutritional value of such pr eparations is in part compensated by the addition of sugar, though les s milk is added (28% in 1994 as opposed to 43% in 1993). In Senegal, m others do not seem to have changed their breast-feeding practices eith er, the age at which baby foods are introduced, or the number of times they are provided daily. The most important change is the drop in qua lity of food given to children, and the poorer family food for the old er children. The partial switch from imported products to local produc e was an expected consequence of devaluation; it is clearly confirmed here for nutrition of young children, with the consequent loss of nutr itional quality (a reduction in energy density and in nutrients). The first thing needed is, therefore, an improvement in local manufacture of food supplements of good nutritional quality, for young children. M others also complain of the increased difficulty in managing a family diet so as to take account of economic needs, cultural values and nutr ition. They therefore criticize a number of nutritional education mess ages that are clearly no longer appropriate to the new economic contex t. Finally the fact that young children are getting poorer quality nut rition is worrying for the future: if it lasts, the nutritional status of children will deteriorate; whenever possible, monitoring must be e stablished so that measures can be taken when necessary to forestall a ny dramatic deterioration that would endanger the health of the childr en.