2030年全球营养目标：儿童消瘦简报

rights to health and nutrition. Furthermore, scaling up themanagement of wasting has proven to be an importanteconomic investment. Treatment of severe wasting isestimated to result in at least a US$ 25 billion increase ineconomic productivity over the lifetimes of children who immunity decreases(7, 8).This ‘vicious cycle’ of wastingand infection highlights the interconnected nature of the Another risk factor for wasting in childhood is low birthweight, or being born small for gestational age. Thisis of particular importance in regions that have a high The number of children suffering from wasting increasesdramatically during times of acute food insecurity, suchas lean seasons and emergencies, or during infectiousdisease outbreaks, particularly in food insecure andfragile contexts. A combination of all these is becoming Underscoring its importance, the prevalence of childwasting has been incorporated as an indicator of progresson the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 2.2, end The causes of wasting are interrelated Children develop wasting when they lose weight rapidly,usually as a result of a combination of infections and poor- The 2025 target has not been met, butprogress is being made The global prevalence of wasting in children under fiveyears of age declined from 7.5% in 2012 to 6.6% (42.8million children) in 2024, of which 1.9% (12.2 million) weresuffering from severe wasting(1, 9). Nonetheless, wastingremains a significant issue in low- and middle-incomecountries (seeFig. 1).The world is clearly not on track toachieve the target(2). Despite the lack of global progress ·inadequate feeding practices (for example, notexclusively breastfed or receiving suboptimal ·food insecurity: in addition to humanitarian situations,there are circumstances with an ongoing lack of regularaccess to adequate, healthy and nutritious diets forhealthy growth and development. This could be due ·poor access to appropriate, timely, and affordablehealth care; and ·lack of a sanitary environment, including lack of accessto safe water, sanitation and hygiene. Wasting affects children worldwide, with the largestnumbers reported in Southern Asia(Fig 1). In 2024, 70%(30 million) of all children under five years of age withwasting were in Asia, and more than 27% lived in Africa(11.7 million)(1). Furthermore, these estimates do notprovide the full extent of the burden because they onlyaccount for children suffering from wasting at the time These factors are strongly interrelated and can, alone orin combination, result in child wasting. A poor-qualitydiet in early childhood increases the risk of infection,which has a profound effect on nutritional status. Thisespecially affects the youngest children. A previouslyhealthy child can quickly become wasted, following severe Box 1. World Health Organization definition of wasting in children under five years of age A child who is wasted is too thin for his or her height. Wasting in children under 5 years of age is defined as havingweight-for-height less than -2 standard deviations from the median of the WHO Child Growth Standards(10).A mid-upper-arm circumference of less than 125 mm is sometimes used as an alternative measure. Wasting in children can be classified as severe or moderate, according to the WHO child growth standards. In this brief,the term ‘wasting’ incorporates severe acute malnutrition (SAM, which includes severe wasting and nutritional oedema) Source: adapted from (1, 12). Box 2. Malawi managed to reduce the prevalence of child wasting from 5.5% to 2.6% In 2000, an estimated 6.8% of children under five years of age in Malawi weresuffering from wasting(12). By 2022, Malawi managed to reduce theprevalence of wasting to 2.6%(1),thus meeting the 2025 GlobalNutrition Target of reducing and maintaining wasting to less than 5%. ·The creation of the Department of Nutrition in the Office ofthe President and Cabinet improved policy and multisectoralcoordination, while the Committees of Ministers, Membersof Parliament, and Principal Secretaries provided an oversightrole. This led to the development of nutrition-related policydocuments such as the National Multisector Nutrition Policy ·In 2011, Malawi joined the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) global movement, which facilitated resource mobilization andimproved partnerships with the public sector, private sector, civil society, religious groups, politicians, development ·During the period 2012-2022, Malawi managed to register progress in child health indicators such as immunizationcoverage, utilization of insecticide-treated nets for malaria prevention, and diarrhoea treatment. These improvements, ·The Child Nutrition Fund(15). Led by UNICEF, thiswas launched in 2021 to scale up sustainable policies,programmes and supplies to ensure that children andwomen receive the vital nutrition they deserve.The Fund is designed to enable learning and facilitate What has happened since 2012 Since the launch of theComprehens