WHO/UNICEF Workshop on the New Child Growth Standards for Children under Five
Summary
A WHO/UNICEF Workshop on the New WHO Child Growth Standards for Children under Five was held in Tagaytay City, Philippines from 31 May to 2 June 2006. The workshop was attended 50 people, including participants, temporary advisers, observers and secretariat.
The objectives of the workshop were:
(1) to review the current practices of growth monitoring in the Region and become familiar with the new WHO child growth standards;
(2) to discuss how to introduce and apply the new WHO child growth standards; and
(3) to develop a plan for enhancing the capabilities of health workers on the use of the new WHO child growth standards.
The workshop consisted of country presentations, technical presentations by WHO and UNICEF staff, discussions in plenary and small groups, and site visits to nearby health centres to observe the current use of growth standards, illustrating a real-life context where the new standards may be introduced.
The WHO/UNICEF Regional Child Survival Strategy accommodates the key life-saving interventions for childhood mortality and morbidity reduction in the Western Pacific Region in line with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and lays a foundation for the healthy growth and development of children under five.
At the end of the workshop, each country endorsed the following:
(1) The new WHO child growth standards offer renewed opportunity to strengthen commitment and action for child survival and development.
(2) The new standards provide a technically robust tool to measure, monitor and evaluate the growth of all children worldwide, regardless of ethnicity, socioeconomic status or type of feeding.
(3) Adoption of the new WHO growth standards should be advocated.
(4) The actions presented during the workshop should be pursued, with support sought from the governments as well as development partners and other interested parties/stakeholders.