I would like to know the new WHO and Unicef classification standards on the severity of malnutrition. Is it now recommended to use these for making decisions?
Refer you to the joint publication of WHO/UNICEF
WHO Child Growth Standards and the Identification of Severe Acute Malnutrition in Infants and Children Joint Statement WHO/UNICEF, 2009.
https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/44129/9789241598163_eng.pdf
Weight/height <-3 SD reference or MUAC <115 mm or Bilateral pitting oedema. This was for children aged 6-60 months; no estimates given for Children aged 0-5 months in this publication.
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Answered:
3 years agoDear colleague,
For sure you should be using WHO 2006 child growth standards in your programmes / decision making. See here for lots of information on these https://www.who.int/tools/child-growth-standards
See also however this piece "Severe malnutrition’: thinking deeply, communicating simply" https://gh.bmj.com/content/5/11/e003023 for a discussion and relfection on interpreting anthropometry and the pros/cons of current case definitions.
Good luck!
Answered:
3 years ago