Undernutrition and the Nutrition Transition: Revising the undernutrition aspect of MDG I

Arbeitspapier

Since the publication of the new multi-country reference standard by WHO it is likely that future progress in the fight against undernutrition will be tracked by using this new standard. The use of the new reference standard will result in clear changes in the prevalence and composition of undernutrition. This paper argues that this opportunity should be used to use stunting or a Composite Index of Anthropometric Failure instead of underweight as the indicator to measure progress in the fight against hunger. All weight based anthropometric measures, such as underweight and wasting, suffer from the fact that due to changes in the nutritional composition of diets in developing countries there is going to be a secular reduction in those measures that does not coincide with real improvements in the health of the affected children. This bias could lead to wrong conclusions concerning the fulfillment of the undernutrition aspect of MDG I.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Discussion Papers ; No. 35

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Health: General ; Measurement and Analysis of Poverty ; Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
• Subject: Nutrition transition ; child undernutrition ; Millennium Development Goals ; composition of undernutrition

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Misselhorn, Mark
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Courant Research Centre - Poverty, Equity and Growth (CRC-PEG)
• (where): Göttingen
• (when): 2010

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/90564
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET