Percent of children with severe acute malnutrition who are correctly prescribed therapeutic feeding

Definition:

Percent of children with severe acute malnutrition who are correctly prescribed therapeutic feeding.

Numerator:

Number of children with severe acute malnutrition who are correctly prescribed therapeutic feeding.

Denominator:

Total number of children with severe acute malnutrition.

Disaggregation:

Age (<1 year, 1-5 years), sex, facility, geographic location

Data Requirements:

Direct observation (Not collected routinely or in existing surveys).

Data Sources:

Patient records

Registers

Referral cards 

Purpose:

Severe acute malnutrition is a difficult and complex indicator to measure. However, this indicator is relevant at the level of both primary facilities and hospitals level and could easily be collected from patient records or registers.

References:

World Health Organization (WHO). Consultation on Improving Measurement of the Quality of Maternal, Newborn and Child Care in Health Facilities.; 2013. http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/128206/1/9789241507417_eng.pdf