Looking beyond “Survive” to “Thrive” in treatment of malnutrition

Malnutrition remains a major public health concern in the world today. Estimates from 2014 show that out of 667 million children under 5, 159 were stunted, and 50 million were wasted (1). Severe wasting, which indicates the presence of severe acute malnutrition (SAM), affects 16 million children. There have been some recent improvements, with reductions in malnutrition globally, but these changes are not happening fast enough or across all world regions. Africa in particular has shown slow progress in reducing malnutrition, and no subregion in Africa currently has an acceptable level of wasting. This is a major concern as children with SAM have 10-fold higher risk of death compared to children without malnutrition (2).