Technical positioning on evolution of CMAM implementation – Update January 2021

This document presents Action Against Hunger’s current technical positioning in the management of acute malnutrition. Each chapter re-assesses these approaches in light of evidence available as of December 2020, providing updated technical and advocacy recommendations, as well as highlighting outstanding questions we hope will be addressed by future research in these areas.

Published: 2021

Action Against Hunger’s December 2019 Research for Nutrition (R4NUT) conference on the Continuum between the Prevention and Treatment of Undernutrition and the Covid 19 pandemic highlighted three critical reasons to update our technical positioning on the management of acute malnutrition:
1. THE MOTIVATION TO ACCELERATE PROGRESS AGAINST GLOBAL TARGETS: To achieve key Sustainable Development Goal targets by 2030 – including for example Objective 2.1 on reduction in the prevalence of severe acute malnutrition – we must adapt our strategies and protocols. Updating our technical positioning therefore allows us to adapt our actions to most appropriate public health strategies and ensure health system strengthening.
2. EMERGENT RESEARCH FINDINGS ON OPTIMIZED APPROACHES: Several important studies on innovations in the detection and/or management of acute malnutrition have recently released results. Updating our technical positioning therefore allows us to assess and articulate the evolution of our technical positioning against this new evidence.
3. AN URGENT NEED FOR ADAPTATION IN THE FACE OF A GLOBAL PANDEMIC: To ensure that essential lifesaving services – such as the management of acute malnutrition – continue safely during the COVID-19 pandemic, programmatic adaptations have been required. Updating our technical positioning therefore allows us to highlight potential opportunities for adaptation, as well as consider possible limitations or risks, as the pandemic fundamentally reshapes the ways in which we work.
This document presents Action Against Hunger’s current technical positioning in the management of acute malnutrition. Each chapter re-assesses these approaches in light of evidence available as of December 2020, providing updated technical and advocacy recommendations, as well as highlighting outstanding questions we hope will be addressed by future research in these areas.