Community-level diagnostic tools and child under-nutrition in Papua New Guinea and Lao People’s Democratic Republic

This research provides new evidence for the prevalence and multiple determinants of child undernutrition, and the appropriateness and effectiveness of tools used to measure them, from two low-income settings: Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). The variability in prevalence and in the causes and consequences of child undernutrition, even between communities with many health and sociodemographic parallels, underlines the importance of gathering comprehensive data in individual settings, using standardized methods and protocols, to identify the opportunities for effective management of undernutrition to improve community health.