This guideline will have new recommendations on the prevention of wasting and on the clinical management of moderate wasting. It will also update and consolidate the recommendations in the 2013 WHO guidelines for severe acute malnutrition[1] which covered eight broad areas in identification and treatment of infants and children with severe wasting and oedema and also included a limited number of recommendations for infants under six months of age.

This guideline provides global, evidence-informed recommendations on a number of specific issues related to the management of severe acute malnutrition in infants and children, including in the context of HIV. The guideline will help Member States and their partners in their efforts to make informed decisions on the appropriate nutrition actions for severely malnourished children. It will also support Member States in their efforts to achieve global targets on the maternal, infant and young child nutrition comprehensive implementation plan, especially global target 1, which entails achieving 40% reduction by 2025 of the global number of children under 5 years who are stunted and global target 6 that aims to reduce and maintain childhood wasting to less than 5%. The guideline is intended for a wide audience, including policy-makers, their expert advisers, and technical and programme staff in organizations involved in the design, implementation and scaling-up of nutrition actions for public health. The guideline will form the basis for a revised manual on the management of severe malnutrition for physicians and other senior health workers, and a training course on the management of severe malnutrition.