The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), also known as IPC scale, is a tool for improving food security

Food security

Food security refers to the availability of food and one's access to it. A household is considered food-secure when its occupants do not live in hunger or fear of starvation. According to the World Resources Institute, global per capita food production has been increasing substantially for the past...

 analysis and decision-making. It is a standardised scale that integrates food security, nutrition

Nutrition

Nutrition is the provision, to cells and organisms, of the materials necessary to support life. Many common health problems can be prevented or alleviated with a healthy diet....

 and livelihood information into a statement about the nature and severity of a crisis and implications for strategic response.

The IPC was originally developed for use in Somalia

Somalia

Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...

 by the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 Food and Agriculture Organization

Food and Agriculture Organization

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is a specialised agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and...

’s Food Security Analysis Unit (FSAU). Several national governments and international agencies, including CARE International, European Commission Joint Research Centre (EC JRC), Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), USAID/FEWS NET, Oxfam

Oxfam

Oxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working in 98 countries worldwide to find lasting solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world. In all Oxfam’s actions, the ultimate goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives...

 GB, Save the Children

Save the Children

Save the Children is an internationally active non-governmental organization that enforces children's rights, provides relief and helps support children in developing countries...

 UK/US, and United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), have been working together to adapt it to other food security contexts.

IPC scale

The following table includes a summary of the IPC scale:

Phase	Description
Generally Food Secure	More than 80% of households can meet basic food needs without atypical coping strategies
Borderline Food Insecure	For at least 20 percent of households, food consumption is reduced but minimally adequate without having to engage in irreversible coping strategies. These households cannot fully meet livelihoods protection needs.
Acute Food and Livelihood Crisis	At least 20 percent of households have significant food consumption gaps OR are marginally able to meet minimum food needs only with irreversible coping strategies such as liquidating livelihood assets. Levels of acute malnutrition are high and above normal.
Humanitarian Emergency	At least 20 percent of households face extreme food consumption gaps, resulting in very high levels of acute malnutrition and excess mortality; OR HH households face an extreme loss of livelihood assets that will likely lead to food consumption gaps.extreme loss of livelihood assets that will likely lead to food consumption gaps.
Famine/Humanitarian Catastrophe	At least 20 percent of households face a complete lack of food and/or other basic needs and starvation, death, and destitution are evident ; and acute malnutrition prevalence exceeds 30% ; and mortality rates exceed 2/10000/day

External links

• Website of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification
• [ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/010/i0275e/i0275e00.pdf Integrated Food Security and Humanitarian Phase Classification: Technical Manual (Version 1.1)]