Checking the sick child for malnutrition and anaemia

All children who are brought to the health facility for consultation with you should be checked for malnutrition and anaemia. A mother may bring her child to the health facilty because the child has an acute illness and specific complaints that may point to malnutrition or anaemia. A sick child can be malnourished, but the child’s family may not have realised this problem.

A child with malnutrition has a higher risk of disease and death. Even children with mild and moderate malnutrition have an increased risk of death. Identifying children with malnutrition and treating them is therefore a critically important part of your role as a health professional. Some malnutrition cases can be treated at home, while severe cases need treatment in an out-patient therapeutic programme (OTP), or referral to a higher health facility or hospital for special feeding, blood transfusion, or specific treatment of a disease contributing to malnutrition (such as tuberculosis or HIV).