Developing countries frequently see their currency depreciated to varying degrees. The consequences of such monetary disturbances on the nutrition of young children are not well known, though children are the most vulnerable in nutritional terms. In Brazzaville, Congo, in December , an epidemiological survey was conducted on a representative sample of children between the ages of 4 and 12 months in two districts, and indicators of child nutrition were established.
A comparable survey had been conducted in December , before the devaluation. In Senegal, in the absence of a previous survey which could be used in comparison, a qualitative survey using RAP methodology, was conducted in January in two towns near the capital. The information was put together with interviews of 25 local traders selling food.
In Senegal, mothers do not seem to have changed their breast-feeding practices either, 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 quality of food given to children, and the poorer family food for the older children. The partial switch from imported products to local produce was an expected consequence of devaluation; it is clearly confirmed here for nutrition of young children, with the consequent loss of nutritional 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. Mothers also complain of the increased difficulty in managing a family diet so as to take account of economic needs, cultural values and nutrition.
They therefore criticize a number of nutritional education messages that are clearly no longer appropriate to the new economic context. Finally the fact that young children are getting poorer quality nutrition is worrying for the future: if it lasts, the nutritional status of children will deteriorate; whenever possible, monitoring must be established so that measures can be taken when necessary to forestall any dramatic deterioration that would endanger the health of the children.
