What bang for the buck in food aid? New database helps you track nutritional impact

The Food Aid Information System from the World Food Programme tracks data on food aid flows since 1988. Now it also links the quantity information on these deliveries to its nutritional impact, measured by indicators like Individual Requirements Met on Average. The data can then be sliced and sorted by commodity, donor, aid type (emergency, program...), recipient, and year.

So for example, how many individuals may be satisfied by the total food aid deliveries to East Asian and Pacific countries in 2007? See the chart to the right, and click on it to access the figures and download the data in Excel format.

The ease of access to this data should not be mistaken by the ease of its interpretation, however. Reading and comparing potential nutritional impacts (these are not actual impacts) is rather complex and the guided example provided --including all the caveats-- is required reading before getting into any serious research. The site acknowledges this is a first attempt at quantifying the nutritional value of food aid and that it aims to improve it through discussion by experts in the food aid area.