WaSt TIG

Wasting and Stunting (WaSt) Technical Interest Group (TIG)

Our aim is to explore the relationship between child wasting and stunting, to question whether the separation between the two forms of undernutrition seen in programmes, policy, research and financing is justified and to evidence and communicate what needs to change as a result, to improve services and systems for malnourished children and their families.

Who we are

The Wasting and Stunting Technical Interest Group (WaSt TIG) was formed in 2014 to explore the relationship between wasting and stunting, and its implications for programme, policy, research and financing. The group, coordinated by ENN is made up of 42 experts in child growth, nutrition and epidemiology. Read more about the members.

The backbone of the expert group is the maintenance of a creative, transparent forum to review, scrutinise, prioritise and build evidence and explore the implications for policy, practice and further research. This allows the WaSt TiG to serve the nutrition and wider humanitarian and development sectors as a hub for evidence and expert opinion which is free from organisational agendas.

Guiding principles for members of the group

Bringing technically creative ideas, enthusiasm and academic rigour to the group
Ensuring the technical focus of the work has relevance to policies and programmes
Maintaining objectivity and being evidence led, rather than directed by agency agenda
Commitment to disseminating and promoting uptake of the group's outputs to influence policy, research and programme change

Our achievements

Together, the group has successfully spearheaded a greater understanding of the physiological, biological and epidemiolocal relationships between child wasting and stunting, building a body of evidence that has underpinned it's call for an end to historic separations, and which is influencing shifts towards more joined-up policy, programming and research.

Watch our video which explains the WaSt TiG's work to end the divide between wasting and stunting.

See our Infographics which summarise the evidence built by the WaSt TIG and others over the last 10 years for a relationship between child wasting and stunting and highlight the implications of that for research, policy and programmes.

Resource Type:

Research Articles

Funders

The WaSt TIG is funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Ireland.

We gratefully acknowledge past support of the USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), the UK Department for International Development (through the MQSUN project), The Waterloo Foundation, and the Eleanor Crook Foundation.

Coordination

The WaSt TIG is coordinated by Tanya Khara.