Growth Assessment and Surveillance (GRS)
The GRS unit is responsible for developing and disseminating growth assessment norms and for providing technical support for nutrition surveillance in countries.
The unit developed the WHO child growth standards for 0-5 years and the WHO growth reference for school age children and adolescents, 5-19 years.
Several tools facilitate the application of these norms, and help users to interpret the results, be it in clinical practice, public health or nutrition programmes:
The unit supports capacity building in countries for the appropriate and effective use of these growth assessment norms. The front-line work is supported by a network of training facilitators in all regions who assist countries with the implementation of the norms.
The unit also provides technical support to countries for the design of child health records and how to incorporate the software into health information systems.
The use of these norms is closely linked with nutrition surveillance and the collection of data on nutritional status. The global database on child growth and malnutrition is an important source of this information.
Technical support to countries furthermore includes:
- how to establish and maintain nutrition surveillance systems
- to design and conduct national surveys
- to analyze and interpret nutrition data
- to monitor trends in nutritional status
- to assess the double burden of malnutrition
GRS advocates for the integration of growth assessment - in particular routine measurements of length or height - into health programmes. This will help early detection of stunting and overweight/obesity, which have adverse, long-term and costly health consequences.