Wasting in the wider context of undernutrition - An ENN Position Paper

This position paper reflects how ENN views wasting in the wider context of undernutrition and is intended to provide national and international actors concerned with programme and policy with an overview of important evidence and issues that could be usefully considered in efforts to combat undernutrition. It draws on learnings from across the different projects in ENN is collaborating on including adolescent nutrition, malnutrition in mothers and infants, the relationship between wasting and stunting and the continuum of care, amongst others. 

Within the position paper, ENN emphasises the need to consider wasting in the context of other manifestations of undernutrition and the importance of shifting away from classifying anthropometric deficits towards considering levels of risk for both individuals and communities. We highlight that wasting must be viewed through a public health lens, focusing on key preventative opportunities throughout the lifecycle and seasonal calendar and country-level structures should be strengthened to deliver context-specific prevention efforts at scale and, where this fails, treatment services. Importantly in fragile contexts, it is vital that we shift the narrative from short-term, humanitarian-focused funding to a long-term development agenda. 

The authors would like to thank the Eleanor Crook Foundation for funding this work.

This paper was prepared by Chloe Angood and Natalie Sessions in close consultation with ENN Technical Directors Carmel Dolan and Tanya Khara and also supported by ENN Technical Directors Marie McGrath, Jeremy Shoham and Emily Mates. 

Suggested citation: ENN. (2020). Wasting in the wider context of undernutrition: An ENN position paper.