WHO works with partners and Member States to improve the lives of all children and meet the targets of Sustainable Development Goal 3, which aims to end preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 by 2030. If all countries reach this goal, 11 million lives will be saved, more than half of them in sub-Saharan Africa.
WHO advocates for health equity through universal health coverage (UHC) and the global availability of vaccines to prevent some of the deadliest childhood diseases. WHO also promotes infant and young child feeding, with a focus on exclusive breastfeeding for infants. It has developed and promotes an integrated approach to managing childhood illness that considers all aspects of a child’s health, and a continuum of care throughout the early years to safeguard their developmental outcomes, including the reduction of risk factors for diseases that can arise later in life.
These goals are a collaboration between many WHO departments and coordinated through the Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health, and Ageing
Children
Child malnutrition is a major public health issue worldwide. An estimated 144 million children under age 5 are stunted, 47 million are wasted and 38.3 million are overweight or obese. Around 45% of deaths among children under 5 years of age are linked to undernutrition.
Measuring the growth of infants and children is an important part of child health surveillance. Inadequate infant growth due to poor nutrition leads to under-nutrition in children in many developing countries, which, if followed later in life by an increased intake of calories, can result in overweight or obesity.
The WHO Child Growth Standards are a diagnostic tool used to monitor and assess the nutritional status of infants and young children worldwide. By tracking children’s height and body weight, the standards detect children or populations not growing properly or under- or overweight, and who may require specific medical or public health responses.
The WHO standards have charts for boys and girls separated, covering age birth to 5 years. They are used in doctors’ offices, clinics and other health facilities, and by research institutions, child health advocacy organizations and ministries of health
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