. Soheyla Ainehvand; . Pouran Raeissi; . Hamid Ravaghi; . Mohammadreza Maleki
Volume 9, Issue 3 , March 2019, , Pages 1-8
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: One of the most important responsibilities of governments and relief agencies aftereach natural disaster is to provide the victims with emergency food items. This is an ...
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INTRODUCTION: One of the most important responsibilities of governments and relief agencies aftereach natural disaster is to provide the victims with emergency food items. This is an inevitable measureto save the lives of injured and the ones who are rescued. This is due to inadequacy and unreliabilityof household and local food supplies. Selection of the type of food is a concern of managers of theresponse management programs. The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristicsof emergency food items provided after natural disasters in Iran from the key informants’ viewpoints.MATERIALS AND METHODS: To conduct this qualitative study, we interviewed 26 experts in thefield of nutrition and response management in natural disasters through semi‑structured interviews.Participants were selected using purposive sampling. The qualitative content analysis method wasfurther applied to analyze the collected data.RESULTS: Analysis of interviews showed that the characteristics of emergency food provided afternatural disasters should be investigated in two categories: (1) nutritional considerations and (2)functional characteristics. Nutritional considerations category comprised subcategories, namely,formulas and special foods for emergencies, food diversity, nutritional needs of different groups,food health and safety, and functional characteristics included subcategories of packaging, culturalnorms, and final price.CONCLUSION: Managers, in relation to the emergency food items used after natural disasters,should consider features including emergency formulas and food, food diversification, food healthand safety, packaging certificates, cultural norms, and final prices in response plans.
