Making the future ours in the occupied Palestinian territory

Assessing the silent epidemic of malnutrition in Palestinian preschool children

“…According to the WHO [ 48 ], treatment of acute malnutrition in children with less than 5 years of age consists of a priority intervention for immediate implementation, but paradoxically according to the present findings only a small reduction has actually been noted since 1998. Malnutrition surveillance information and objective assessments like the present review can trigger a decision to intervene, provide guidance and assist in program design and planning [ 14 , 47 , 49 ]. However, the present findings corroborate those by independent research conducted by several organizations providing evidence that malnutrition is still apparent in Palestine.…”

“…Several studies have been published using samples with non-comparable age-ranges, many of which provide either little or no information at all regarding population recruitment, response rates or even sample sizes. According to the Community and Public Health Masters’ students at Birzeit University [ 14 ], high-quality, unbiased and reliable data are needed in order to challenge policy makers. Thus, there is a need for quality assessment of studies assessing malnutrition in order to attain an objective and more accurate picture of the prevalence of childhood malnutrition in Palestine.…”