Evaluating the WHO Criteria for Acute Malnutrition: Stunting and Growth Rates in Malawian Treatment Programs

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Abstract/Contents

Abstract: Acute malnutrition directly accounts for over 2 million deaths of children under five each year. However, its interaction with other nutritional disorders and the efficacy of the World Health Organization’s criteria for its diagnosis and are not well understood. I conduct a secondary analysis of two clinical trials in southern Malawi to examine the effects of chronic malnutrition and the rates of growth of anthropometric measures for patients in acute malnutrition treatment programs. The results show that chronically malnourished children presented for treatment with low baseline measurements and demographic makers of food insecurity. These children had worse clinical outcomes than non-chronically malnourished children, but they experienced more height gain over the treatment course. Children with severe acute malnutrition grew at a faster rate than children with moderate acute malnutrition and ratios between growth rates of the two diagnostic measures were similar in these populations. These findings indicate that chronically malnourished children should be targeted for increased attention in screening and supplemental feeding programs for acute malnutrition, and that therapeutic feeding can counteract the growth faltering caused by chronic malnutrition. Findings do not provide evidence that either diagnostic marker for malnutrition is superior based on growth rate.

Type of resource	text
Date created	June 19, 2018

Author	Howlett, Claire
Primary advisor	Maldonado, Yvonne
Degree granting institution	Stanford University, Fisher Family Honors Program in Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law

Location	https://purl.stanford.edu/fq292qh0036

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License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).

Preferred Citation: Howlett, Claire. (2018). Evaluating the WHO Criteria for Acute Malnutrition: Stunting and Growth Rates in Malawian Treatment Programs. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at: https://purl.stanford.edu/fq292qh0036

Stanford University, Fisher Family Honors Program in Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. (CDDRL)

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