‘Wasting Reset’: wasting prevention, early detection and treatment to catalyse action and accountability- Solutions from the policies and guidelines working group

In recent years, whilst there has been an increase in interest and investment aimed at reducing wasting, including strong support from national governments, the pace of progress is much too slow to reach global goals and targets. We therefore need a ‘reset’ of childhood wasting prevention, early detection and treatment. This reset aims to galvanise multiple stakeholders around the key actions needed to stimulate progress and ensure accountability in the 2022-2030 period, and will be used by governments and organisations to inform their political and financial commitments to tackling wasting.

To provide technical recommendations on what needs to be done to significantly reduce child wasting, six independent working groups (WGs) were established. These WGs were made up of representatives of more than 40 organisations and governments, who discussed and agreed upon key messages and actions.

The key messages from this Working Group were: 

• UN agencies must provide timely, evidence-based and adaptable guidance on how to implement wasting guidelines, including prevention services, without traditional siloes, focusing on better integration with health system structures, and with strong community health worker systems at their centre.
• National governments, with support from UN agencies, need to develop mechanisms to take up dynamic global guidance in a timely manner and adapt it for their own health systems and other systems (such as water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), social protection and food), through consultation with a broad range of stakeholders, including national-level civil society, health providers and academia, and through collaboration with all key sectors. An evaluation of uptake and contextual adaptations of guidance will aid learning and accountability.