The World Health Organization’s new guidelines on the treatment of malnutrition are a step in the right direction to simplify the process and ensure more starving children are saved with fewer resources, implementers, and malnutrition treatment, manufacturers say.
The guidelines, released last month, are the first update to WHO recommendations for treating children with wasting, which means they are low weight for their height. Globally more than 45 million children are wasted, and treatment has traditionally reached about 20% of them.
The guidelines are incredibly technical, so many organizations couldn’t immediately shed light on what they mean for the malnutrition programs they implement. But after weeks of internal consultations with their medical and nutrition experts, a picture of the document’s biggest changes — and how they will affect their operations — is emerging.