The use of epidemiological tools in conflict-affected populations: open-access educational resources for policy-makers

Table of Contents

1. Welcome
2. Introduction: Epidemiology in crises
3. Ethical issues in data collection
4. Need for epidemiologic competence
5. Surveys - Introduction
6. Surveys - Description of sampling methods
7. Surveys - Sampling error, bias, accuracy, precision, & sample size
8. Surveys - Resources required for surveys
9. Surveys - Critiquing survey reports
10. Surveillance - When to do surveillance
11. Surveillance - Methods
12. Surveillance - Common problems
13. Programme data
14. Rapid assessment
15. Mortality - Indicators and their measurement
16. Mortality - Data sources
17. Mortality - Interpretation and action
18. Nutrition - Introduction and background
19. Nutrition - Indicators and their measurement
    1. Introduction to anthropometry
    2. Anthropometric indices
    3. Reference populations
    4. Calculation of percent of median
    5. Oedema
    6. Calculation of z-scores
    7. Adults and body mass index (BMI)
    8. Micronutrients - Clinical indicators
    9. Micronutrients - Biochemical indicators
    10. Calculating prevalence
20. Nutrition - Data sources
21. Nutrition - Interpretation and action
22. Health services
23. Vaccination programmes
24. Water supply, sanitation, and shelter
25. Violence
26. Presentation of results
27. Formulating conclusions and recommendations
28. Dissemination and action

Anthropometric indices

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Anthropometric measurements are combined with each other or with other data to calculate anthropometric indices. The most common indices used in emergencies include those listed in the table below:

If you want to measure the prevalence of acute protein-energy malnutrition, you should use weight-for-height. However, in practice, all three indices are usually available. Most emergency nutrition surveys measure sex, height, weight, and age. From these measurements, all three anthropometric indices can be easily calculated by a computer.