Micronutrient supplementation in children with severe acute malnutrition
Severe acute malnutrition (SAM) is defined by a very low weight for height, by visible severe wasting, or by the presence of nutritional oedema. It affects about 20 million children under the age of five. Children with SAM often have micronutrient deficiencies, and these need to be corrected for a successful and complete nutritional recovery.
WHO currently recommends that severely malnourished children receive a routine supplement cocktail of minerals and vitamins. For this reason, commercially available therapeutic milks, ready-to-use therapeutic foods, and rehydration solutions for malnourished children contain a mix of minerals and vitamins. Ready-made vitamin and mineral mixes can also be used in the preparation of local therapeutic foods and rehydration solutions.
WHO documents
Hospital-based management of severe malnutrition
Status: guidelines under review
Management of the child with a serious infection or severe malnutrition: guidelines for care at the first-referral level in developing countries
Status: guidelines under development
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WHO child growth standards and the identification of severe acute malnutrition in infants and children
Status: published
Publication year: 2009 -
Community-based management of severe acute malnutrition
A joint statement by the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, the United Nations System Standing Committee on Nutrition and the United Nations Children's Fund.
Status: published
Publication year: 2007 -
Management of severe malnutrition: a manual for physicians and other senior health workers
Status: published (under review)
Publication year: 1999
Evidence
Cochrane review
Other systematic reviews
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Efficacy and effectiveness of community-based treatment of severe malnutrition
Ashworth A
Food and Nutrition Bulletin, 2006, 27(3):S24–S48