Wasting refers to a form of malnutrition whereby a child is too thin for his or her height. Wasting is the result of recent rapid weight loss or the failure to gain weight. It is a life-threatening condition caused by insufficient intake or malabsorption of energy and nutrients and/or frequent or prolonged illness. A child who is moderately or severely wasted has an increased risk of death, but treatment is possible. Children suffering from wasting have weakened immunity, increasing their risk of death due to greater frequency and severity of common infection, particularly when severe (WHO, UNICEF and WFP, 2014 and FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO, 2018).
In 2022, the prevalence of wasting in Africa (5.8 percent) was below the global estimate (6.8 percent), and was particularly low in Southern Africa (FIGURE 12) while it was slightly above the continental average in Western Africa and Northern Africa, and just 5 percent in Eastern Africa (TABLE 8). All the subregions were off track despite having made some progress toward the WHA 2030 target for child wasting, except Northern Africa with a worsening child wasting situation.
There is a considerable variation in child wasting across countries. Based on the latest available estimates covering the 2015–2022 period, ten countries had a child wasting prevalence above the global estimate of 6.8 percent, with the majority being in Western Africa. Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Mali, Mauritania and Niger had the highest prevalence of child wasting, above 10 percent. The prevalence of wasting is less than 4 percent in 14 countries, and among these, the prevalence was below 2.5 percent in Lesotho, Morocco, Rwanda and Tunisia (FIGURE 13).
| 2022 | |
| World | 6.8 |
| Africa | 5.8 |
| Central Africa | 5.6 |
| Eastern Africa | 5.0 |
| Northern Africa | 6.3 |
| Southern Africa | 3.5 |
| Western Africa | 6.7 |
