Child alert: Severe wasting
Most people have never heard of wasting, also known as ‘severe acute malnutrition.’ But it is one of the leading underlying causes of preventable deaths in young children. Conflicts, and climate crises that destroy access to healthy diets, are causing that number to rise. But even in fairly stable countries, child wasting has been on the rise. ‘…, What is severe wasting? Wasting, defined as low weight-for-height, is the most visible and lethal type of malnutrition. Severe wasting, also known as severe acute malnutrition, is its most deadly form. It is caused by a lack of nutritious food and repeated bouts of diseases such as diarrhoea, measles and malaria, which compromise a child’s…, An escalating problem…, Ethiopia. A woman walks past shelters at a site for internally displaced persons. A woman walks past shelters at a site for internally displaced persons in Ethiopia. Countries across a variety of regions have seen a rise in wasting levels since 2016. There’s no single reason for this alarming rise. But cases are rapidly increasing in areas…, …and a largely invisible one, Cambodia. A woman holds her daughter who suffers from severe acute malnutrition. A woman in Ten Ngol village, Cambodia, sits with her daughter, who suffers from severe acute malnutrition. About a quarter of children suffering from severe wasting live in emergency contexts that generate news headlines, often with images of excruciatingly emaciated…, But it’s preventable and treatable, Venezuela. A boy eats a ready-to-use therapeutic food during a nutrition screening day in Zulia. A boy eats a ready-to-use therapeutic food during a nutrition screening day in Zulia, Venezuela. A relatively small additional investment – by donors, governments and other financial instruments – would dramatically reduce child death rates. And it…, How is UNICEF responding?, Mauritania. A UNICEF nutrition specialist holds a malnourished baby at a nutrition rehabilitation centre. A UNICEF nutrition specialist holds a malnourished baby at a nutrition rehabilitation centre in Nouakchott, Mauritania. In southern Madagascar, UNICEF provided life-saving treatment to more than 60,000 severely wasted children in 2021 – four…, What is UNICEF calling for?, Donors and governments to fully fund the Global Action Plan to scale up treatment on a massive scale, provide multi-year funding that will enable continuous services, and cover treatment for child wasting under health and long-term development funding. Donors to ensure that budget allocations to address the global hunger crisis include specific…, UNICEF CHILD ALERT May 2022 An overlooked child survival emergency Severe wasting UNICEF CHILD ALERT Severe wasting An overlooked child survival emergency Contents Key messages 1 Foreword 3 The global scope and impact of child wasting 4 Box 1: Ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF): the gold standard for wasting treatment 8 Box 2: The Mid-Upper Arm…
