Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the utility of clinic-based anthropometric data for early/timely warning purposes as a part of nutritional surveillance systems. The study combines the unique circumstances of the 1984–1985 Sahelian famine with retrospective time series of cereal prices, morbidity, and anthropometric data. Thus, the behaviour of clinicbased anthropometric data is compared to that of the other series and to the known evolution of the Sahelian famine. A conceptual framework for the use of clinicbased anthropometric data is developed, and time-series and regression techniques are used to explore the hypothesis that routinely collected anthropometric data can provide early indications of impending food emergencies. The clinic-based data performed well in identifying the famine several months in advance of official recognition of a problem and donor mobilization of resources. This suggests that properly analysed clinic data can be useful for the early detection of impending food crises, though further research will be needed to determine the general applicability of this finding. Several methodological issues related to the use of this type of data are explored.