Malnutrition in the OIC Member
Countries: A Trap for Poverty
sectors. Strong coordination teams are required at provincial/district level to link budgets,
plans, monitoring and accountability frameworks. Funding also needs to be aligned with the
action plans. Monitoring and Evaluation systems that can demonstrate achievement of
objectives and consolidate results across sectors are required, which include sufficient
flexibility to be responsive to different local realities (Walters, Dohan and Shoham 2015).
Whilst much of the best practice and lessons learned are drawn from the experiences of the
SUNmovement, the principles are still relevant for non-SUN countries.
1.6. Measures of Child Malnutrition
The report focuses on four distinct types of malnutrition. The first type is acute malnutrition,
which is captured by the prevalence of wasting. A child is considered to be wasted if her/his
weight-for-height is below 2 standard deviations of that of a reference group. Severe wasting is
defined when weight-for-height falls below 3 standard deviations of that of the reference
group. Rates of wasting in excess of 15% correspond to a “critical situation” according to the
World Health Organization (WHO). Severe acute malnutrition is related to elevated mortality
rates, amongst others, and is the subject of humanitarian attention.
The second type of malnutrition is chronic malnutrition, measured by stunting. A child is
stunted when her/his height-for-age is 2 standard deviations below that of the reference
population. Stunting is associated with impaired cognitive and non-cognitive development of
children with long-term impacts in adulthood. Rates of stunting in excess of 40% indicate a
crisis situation.
The third type of malnutrition is micro-nutrients deficiencies (or “hidden hunger”]. Section
2.3 above discussed additional types of deficiencies, however, data on these are not available
for large shares of populations across the world. The report therefore focuses on indicators for
iron deficiency, which is associated with anaemia, and vitamin A deficiency, which is
associated with growth retardation and infection.
The fourth type of malnutrition is over-nutrition, i.e. obesity and overweight, which are also
associated with non-communicable diseases and heightened mortality and morbidity rates,
among other consequences. Overweight among children is defined as weight-for-age being
above 2 standard deviations of that of the reference population. In adults, overweight and
obesity are measured using the Body Mass Index (BMI).
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