Dear colleagues, I would like to know if it's useful to use the malnutrition thresholds' analysis for health facility based nutrition surveillance data, to recommend action. The sites have been selected as sentinel sites. I am aware of the limitations of health facility based data in terms of represent ability.
Sentinel site surveillance is a very efficient way to monitor trends in some health or nutrition condition. As you mention, because it is usually facility-based, it may not be representative of the larger population. Moreover, depending on how the reporting sites were selected, the population served by these sites may not be representative. As a result, I would hesitate to commit resources to new programming based solely on estimates of prevalence derived from sentinel sites. I presume that's what you mean by "malnutrition thresholds' analysis".
Answered:
8 years ago