NEW YORK, 29 April 2009: New World Health Organization (WHO) growth standards will help to detect which infants are at risk of malnutrition much more quickly, allowing for faster and less costly intervention, say aid workers.
Malnutrition is a factor in about half the 10 million deaths among children under five each year, and improved nutrition is essential to achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals to cut child mortality.
The standards have been adopted far more quickly than expected. “It’s double the figure that we expected because we had a target of 50 countries by 2010 and now in 2009 we have 94, so it’s going well,” WHO growth assessment coordinator Mercedes de Onis told IRIN, with 2012 the target for full compliance.
Læs mere på: http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=84156
