Skip to main content

Table 2 The diagnosis of GAM by WHZ, absolute-MUAC or by both criteria 47 countries with more than 75 GAM children and from 8 other countries

From: Weight-for-height and mid-upper-arm circumference should be used independently to diagnose acute malnutrition: policy implications

Country GAM subjects WHZ < -2 only % MUAC <125 mm only % Both criteria % %WHZ minus %MUAC Total WHZ < -2 % Total MUAC <125 mm %
Guatemala 77 13.0 70.1 16.9 −57.1 29.9 87.0
Tajikistan 843 17.1 57.2 25.7 −40.1 42.8 82.9
Malawi 2 343 20.5 59.5 20.1 −39.0 40.5 79.5
Mozambique 572 21.0 43.9 35.1 −22.9 56.1 79.0
Rwanda 1 882 21.7 44.8 33.5 −23.2 55.2 78.3
Afghanistan 7 628 22.6 43.7 33.7 −21.1 56.3 77.4
Angola 6 053 23.5 45.6 30.9 −22.2 54.4 76.5
Burundi 3 239 23.6 45.5 31.0 −21.9 54.5 76.4
Sierra Leone 9 476 23.7 37.8 38.5 −14.1 62.2 76.3
Zambia 251 23.9 52.2 23.9 −28.3 47.8 76.1
Uganda 5 790 24.4 46.1 29.4 −21.7 53.9 75.6
Tanzania 1 034 25.9 37.4 36.7 −11.5 62.6 74.1
Madagascar 742 29.5 35.2 35.3 −5.7 64.8 70.5
Ivory Coast 644 30.9 36.6 32.5 −5.7 63.4 69.1
DRC 23 416 32.6 42.7 24.6 −10.1 57.3 67.4
Liberia 6 289 33.4 33.5 33.1 −0.1 66.5 66.6
Haiti 2 415 33.8 40.5 25.8 −6.7 59.5 66.2
Eritrea 275 33.8 42.2 24.0 −8.4 57.8 66.2
CAR 3 675 33.9 39.4 26.8 −5.5 60.6 66.1
Myanmar 2 323 34.6 30.5 34.9 4.1 69.5 65.4
Guinea 1 014 36.0 34.6 29.4 1.4 65.4 64.0
Pakistan 3 769 36.8 35.2 28.0 1.7 64.8 63.2
Nepal 1 082 39.4 26.6 34.0 12.8 73.4 60.6
Nigeria 3 856 40.1 29.1 30.8 10.9 70.9 59.9
Zimbabwe 128 41.4 32.8 25.8 8.6 67.2 58.6
Ethiopia 10 883 41.8 30.3 27.9 11.5 69.7 58.2
Niger 7 963 44.7 21.6 33.7 23.1 78.4 55.3
Bangladesh 3 321 46.8 25.2 28.0 21.5 74.8 53.2
Somalia 19 550 48.6 26.4 25.1 22.2 73.6 51.4
Chad 17 582 50.9 18.7 30.4 32.2 81.3 49.1
Timor 285 51.2 20.7 28.1 30.5 79.3 48.8
Cameroun 570 52.8 18.8 28.4 34.0 81.2 47.2
South Sudan 33 770 52.9 18.2 28.9 34.6 81.8 47.1
Benin 652 53.7 19.5 26.8 34.2 80.5 46.3
India 1 498 54.9 11.7 33.4 43.3 88.3 45.1
Sudan 15 336 55.1 15.3 29.7 39.8 84.7 44.9
Burkina Faso 5 173 55.8 15.1 29.1 40.8 84.9 44.2
Mali 2 625 57.1 17.3 25.7 39.8 82.7 42.9
Mauritania 4 851 59.5 22.2 18.3 37.3 77.8 40.5
Guinea-Bissau 147 60.5 19.0 20.4 41.5 81.0 39.5
Togo 432 65.0 13.7 21.3 51.4 86.3 35.0
Thailand 129 72.1 10.9 17.1 61.2 89.1 27.9
Kenya 6 657 72.9 11.1 16.0 61.8 88.9 27.1
Gambia 738 73.7 7.2 19.1 66.5 92.8 26.3
Philippines 325 76.6 7.4 16.0 69.2 92.6 23.4
Sri Lanka 873 77.2 7.8 15.0 69.4 92.2 22.8
Senegal 3 648 78.4 6.8 14.8 71.6 93.2 21.6
Total/%a 225 824 43.8 28.0 28.2 15.8 56.2 43.8
Mean ± SDb - 43 ± 18 29.9 ± 15.3 27.1 ± 6.3 28.6 ± 20.4c 70.1 ± 15.3 57 ± 18
Countries with total number of GAM children in surveys <75
Indonesia 74 27.0 51.4 21.6 −24.3 48.6 73.0
Congo-B 47 48.9 17.0 34.0 31.9 83.0 51.1
Nicaragua 15 53.3 40.0 6.7 13.3 60.0 46.7
Albania 43 55.8 18.6 25.6 37.2 81.4 44.2
Macedonia 16 56.3 37.5 6.3 18.8 62.5 43.8
Kosovar 14 57.1 21.4 21.4 35.7 78.6 42.9
Venezuela 18 61.1 27.8 11.1 33.3 72.2 38.9
Syria 25 72.0 16.0 12.0 56.0 84.0 28.0
  1. The data are presented as percent of the total number of GAM children fulfilling either WHZ or MUAC criteria
  2. DRC Democratic Republic of Congo; CAR Central African Republic; Congo-B Congo Brazzaville
  3. aTotal children with GAM and percent of all children in the database with that characteristic
  4. bThe mean and SD of the 47 countries
  5. ccalculated using absolute numbers
Back to article page

BMC Nutrition

ISSN: 2055-0928

Contact us