A WHO global research priority agenda for wasting and nutritional oedema in infants and children under 5 years

Addressing wasting and nutritional oedema in infants and children requires prioritisation of key areas for research, particularly considering the many evidence gaps and recent funding reductions.

The WHO Steering Committee and methodologists for the 2023 WHO guideline on wasting and nutritional oedema, coordinated a Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI) exercise to produce a global research priority agenda for wasting and nutritional oedema through to 2030.

Top research questions related to evaluating different ready-to-use therapeutic food protocol options with reducing quantities for severe wasting and nutritional oedema; determining reliable criteria for defining optimal growth in infants less than 6 months of age at risk of poor growth and development; assessing cost and cost-effectiveness of specially formulated foods and other dietary interventions for moderate wasting; and identifying effective interventions in humanitarian contexts to prevent wasting and nutritional oedema.

This research priority agenda will guide researchers, research institutes, funders and policy-makers, among others, to focus their efforts on the most urgent evidence gaps for preventing and managing wasting and nutritional oedema.