Acute malnutrition occurs when a child experiences a dramatic decrease in energy and nutrients over a short period of time. They no longer have a diet that is diverse or substantial enough to meet their minimal energy requirements. This results in wasting (where a child has a low weight for height ratio), or rapid weight loss, and means that a child has experienced a relatively sudden drop in food intake. This is usually due to a severe food shortage or period of illness.
Severe acute malnutrition is defined by a very low weight for height, visible severe wasting, or by the presence of nutritional oedema - the abnormal fluid retention in the tissues, resulting especially from lack of protein in states of starvation or malnutrition. Severe wasting needs to be treated with a medical intervention and feeding plan.
Malnutrition greatly increases the risk of children dying from common childhood diseases. If they don’t receive treatment children who suffer from moderate acute malnutrition are 2.5 times more likely to die than a well-nourished child. If the malnutrition is severe, they are nine times more likely to die.