Treating severe acute malnutrition seriously

Severe acute malnutrition in Asia.

Severe acute malnutrition (SAM) is a common condition that kills children and intellectually maims those who survive. Close to 20 million children under the age of 5 years suffer from SAM globally, and about 1 million of them die each year. Much of this burden takes place in Asia. Six countries in Asia together have more than 12 million children suffering from SAM: 0.6 million in Afghanistan, 0...

Management of severe acute malnutrition.

Severe acute malnutrition and infection

Severe acute malnutrition (SAM) is associated with increased severity of common infectious diseases, and death amongst children with SAM is almost always as a result of infection. The diagnosis and management of infection are often different in malnourished versus well-nourished children. The objectives of this brief are to outline the evidence underpinning important practical questions relatin...

Improving estimates of the burden of severe acute malnutrition and predictions of caseload for programs treating severe acute malnutrition: experiences from Nigeria

Background The burden of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) is estimated using unadjusted prevalence estimates. SAM is an acute condition and many children with SAM will either recover or die within a few weeks. Estimating SAM burden using unadjusted prevalence estimates results in significant underestimation. This has a negative impact on allocation of resources for the prevention and treatment o...

Predicting resource requirements for programmes treating children with severe acute malnutrition

When an emergency occurs, and large numbers of children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) are to be treated, programme managers have to know, usually within a short period of time, the number of SAM children they will have to treat in the next few months (usually in the next 12 months). This is needed in particular for funding requests, as the number of patients to be treated has a direct im...