This is a in-person session only. It won't be available online.
[Note: this session is in two parts with lunch in between ( 12:15 to 13:05)]
Times are in CAT
Level: Basic / intermediate
Room: IBIS
Description:
The widest-used, best-known measure of nutritional status is anthropometry. This has many practical advantages for both programmes and research, but limitations are insufficiently recognised. In particular, common measures (weight-for-height; weight-for-age; height-for-age) are often:
- Poorly interpreted
- Misunderstood as being gold-standard measurements rather than effective but imperfect case definitions (hence malnutrition-associated mortality; morbidity and development are often neglected.)
- The focus of different communities (e.g. humanitarian actors often focus on wasting; development actors on stunting): leading to ‘tribalism in the nutrition world.
Our aim in this learning lab is to increase participants’ understanding of the limitations of current measures and educate them about future improved measures. An interactive and participatory session will draw on and discuss:
- Recent publications on these issues
- Evidence from a long-term outcomes project which highlights current challenges
- Our experience of the WHO Severe Malnutrition Guidelines process
Preparation materials
We recommend that you visit the resources prior to attending the session.
- Development of holistic metrics for food and water insecurity and school-age child function for nutrition-sensitive programmes
- Characterising school-age health and function in rural Zimbabwe using the SAHARAN toolbox
- ‘Severe malnutrition’: thinking deeply, communicating simply
- CHANGE Project (CHild malnutrition & Adult NCD: Generating Evidence on mechanistic links to inform future policy/practice)
- Beyond Anthropometry: Moving beyond anthropometry to other functional measure
- ANH Academy Jam board
Note: Would you like to attend this session? Please register HERE. A survey will be sent to you via email by no later than 1 June 2023, to indicate all your preferred learning lab sessions. You can only receive the survey after you have registered.
Check out our ANH2023 communications toolkit media toolkit for useful Twitter handles, graphics and other materials.
