FNs Sundhedsorganisation skrotter sine gamle retningslinjer fra 1999 og anbefaler ambulant behandling med nye medikamenter af verdens henved 20 millioner underernærede børn i stedet for længere ophold på ofte smittefarlige hospitaler – især i Den 3. Verden.
GENEVA, 27 November 2013 (UN News Service): The United Nations health agency Wednesday released new treatment guidelines for the almost 20 million children under the age of five worldwide who have severe acute malnutrition (underernæring /fejlernæring), including options for allowing them to recover at home, as well as treating those with HIV.
The updated WHO guidelines recommend that children with severe acute malnutrition who do not have health complications that require hospitalization, receive special, high-energy food and antibiotics to treat infection. This allows them to recover at home with their families.
“It is generally better for children and better for their families if they are treated as outpatients (ambulant),” said Dr. Elizabeth Mason, Director of WHO’s Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health.
“It can be easier for families who need to continue providing and caring for other children, and it allows vulnerable, malnourished children to stay home and avoid the risk of getting hospital infections”, added she.
“The guidelines are critical because many national health plans currently overlook children with severe acute malnutrition. This can be fatal. If these children do not get the right medical and nutritional care (ernæringsmæssige pleje), very often they die,” said Dr. Francesco Branca, Director of the Department of Nutrition for Health and Development at the World Health Organization (WHO).
According to WHO, severe acute malnutrition is when children suffer severe wasting (svækkelse) that may or may not be accompanied by swelling of the body from fluid retention (væske-ophobning).
It occurs when infants and children do not have adequate energy, protein and micronutrients in their diet (kost), combined with other health problems such as recurrent (tilbagevendende) infections. It is diagnosed when the circumference (omfanget) of the upper arm is less than 115 millimetres or when the weight for (contra) height of a child is severely reduced.
The new guidelines also address how to treat children with severe acute malnutrition for HIV and offer recommendations on treating severely malnourished infants under six months.
They supersede (afløser) WHO’s 1999 guidelines which recommended that all severely malnourished children be hospitalized, given fortified formula (beriget) milk and appropriate treatment including antibiotics.
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