Addressing severe acute malnutrition where it matters.

摘要

Most children with severe acute malnutrition live in south Asia and central Africa, where such malnutrition accounts for a large number of deaths in children aged under 5 years. Depending on reporting mechanisms, classification of cause of death, and HIV status, estimates of deaths directly attributable to severe acute malnutrition have varied from 0-5 million to 2 million annually. The bottom line is that 13-19 million children are affected by severe acute malnutrition globally, and that addressing this disorder is a moral and ethical imperative. Although some of these children represent populations affected by strife and displacement, a large proportion are the face of abject poverty, chronic food insecurity, and high disease burdens. In particular, the combination of severe acute malnutrition with HIV/AIDS, recurrent and prolonged diarrhoea, and respiratory infections often underlie the observed high burden of mortality in these children. Children with severe acute malnutrition have a 94-fold higher odds of dying compared with their non-malnourished counterparts