Nutrition and care for children with wasting
Wasting is the most immediate, visible and life-threatening form of malnutrition. It results from the failure to prevent malnutrition among the most vulnerable children.
Children with wasting are too thin and their immune systems are weak, leaving them vulnerable to developmental delays, disease and death. Some children affected by wasting also suffer from nutritional oedema, characterized by a swollen face, feet and limbs.
Managing Wasting
Wasting and other forms of acute malnutrition are the result of maternal malnutrition, low birthweight, poor feeding and care practices, and infection exacerbated by food insecurity, limited access to safe drinking water, and poverty. Growing evidence suggests that wasting occurs very early in life and disproportionally affects children under 2 years of age.
The number of children who suffer from wasting can increase dramatically as a result of conflict, epidemics and food insecurity, including that caused by climate change–induced droughts and flooding. Yet, wasting is not only a characteristic of crisis. In fact, two thirds of all children with wasting live in places that are not facing emergencies.
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