Objectives This review aimed to provide an overview of
the prevalence of undernutrition in children under 5 years
old in refugee camps according to the different indicators.
In addition, we aimed to evaluate the quality and quantity
of relevant epidemiological data available.
Design We used a systematic review of prevalence ...
Objectives This review aimed to provide an overview of
the prevalence of undernutrition in children under 5 years
old in refugee camps according to the different indicators.
In addition, we aimed to evaluate the quality and quantity
of relevant epidemiological data available.
Design We used a systematic review of prevalence study
design to achieve the above aims. We sought eligible
observational studies through database searching of OVID
Medline, CAB Global Health, Scopus and PubMed; citation
chasing; and grey literature searching.
Setting The setting of interest was refugee camps across
the globe.
Participants Participants in the studies included in the
review were children under 5 years old.
Primary and secondary outcome measures Outcome
measures of interest were the prevalence of wasting,
global acute malnutrition, stunting and underweight.
Results The review included 33 cross-sectional studies
in 86 sites and a total of 36 750 participants. Overall, the
quality of the studies was moderate to high, but some
reports lacked clarity around data collection or outcome
definitions. The results showed a wide variation in
prevalence estimates across the different indicators and
between different refugee camps. The median prevalence
estimates of global acute malnutrition based on weightfor-height z-score, stunting and underweight were 7.1%,
23.8% and 16.7%, respectively. Using weight-for-height
z-score identified a higher prevalence of acute malnutrition
than using mid-upper arm circumference in the majority
of studies.
Conclusions Acute malnutrition remains a public health
problem in many refugee camps, but chronic malnutrition
has a high prevalence in more locations. Research and
policy must, therefore, focus not only on nutrition but
also on the wider determinants of both acute and chronic
undernutrition. The difference in prevalence of global
acute malnutrition depending on the measure used has
implications for screening and diagnosis or screening and diagnosis.
