Acute malnutrition

When it comes to malnutrition, a distinction can be made between acute and chronic malnutrition. As the prevalence of acute malnutrition says something about the food security in a programme area, this term is used in defining this indicator. The target group is chosen based on WFP data, which show that acute malnutrition among children 6-59 months old gives a good indication of the nutritional status of a country. Lactating women are added here as a target group, as their health is crucial for the well-being of the children.

The indicator can be divided into two parts:

By Programme closure date, the prevalence and duration of acute malnutrition among children from 6-59 months within the programme area has decreased.

1. The prevalence of acute malnutrition among the target group has decreased from x% to y%.
2. The duration that people are suffering from acute malnutrition has decreased from a to b.

Methodological notes:

1. Acute malnutrition is often measured through the Mid-Upper Arm Circumference methodology (MUAC). However, for reasons of time management and possible lack of expertise, it is preferred to obtain these data from secondary sources, such as the national Ministry of Health or organizations like WFP, WHO or UNICEF18.
2. In the case that there is no external data available, the required data should be acquired by ZOA itself, if there is sufficient capacity to do so. For both target groups, children from 6-59 months old and lactating women, the MUAC methodology can be applied, using different thresholds. As this method requires a certain skillset, it is preferred to outsource this work to experts in this professional area.

disaggregated by gender, and lactating women

In the additional guidance you will find an extended explanation of the MUAC methodology and its thresholds for different target groups, see “Part 2: Data, indicators and sources of information.”