Prevalence of wasting among under 6-month-old infants in developing countries and implications of new case definitions using WHO growth standards. A secondary data analysis

This statistics articles focuses on infants aged under 6 months, who are often excluded from nutrition surveys and marginalised in malnutrition treatment programmes. In a May 2009 joint statement, the WHO and UNICEF recommended a transition to WHO growth standards to identify wasting but only reviewed the implications for children aged from 6 to under 60 months. In developing countries, large numbers of infants under 6 months are wasted. The article estimate that 0.8 million are severely wasted worldwide and 2.2 million moderately wasted (diagnosed using National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) growth references) Using WHO standards to diagnose wasting, results in a large prevalence increase: an extra 3 million infants under 6 months severely wasted and an extra 2.5 million moderately wasted worldwide. Policy makers, programme managers and clinicians in child health and nutrition programmes should consider resource and risk/benefit implications of changing case definitions.

Please follow the link to find the document : http://adc.bmj.com/content/early/2011/02/01/adc.2010.191882.full.