Welcome!

Welcome to the MUAC Community Website! This is a free and open site for the dissemination and discussion of issues related to the use of mid-upper-arm circumference (MUAC) including, but not restricted to, case-definitions, surveys, and patient monitoring.

Cheap and simple way to standardise the "pull" when measuring MUAC

The attached document shows how to make an "equal pull" MUAC strap from Brixton Health / VALID International Ltd. (and other) design MUAC straps using very cheap and readily available materials (i.e. an elastic band, a staple, and a ball-point pen - you will also need a marker pen for other designs).

Review of Nutrition and Mortality Indicators from the IPC

The attached study entitled Review of Nutrition and Mortality Indicators for the IPC - Reference Levels and Decision-making was commissioned by the SCN Task Force on Assessment, Monitoring and Evaluation (TF/AME) and the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Global Partnership.

Nutritional status of adults in emergencies

Here is an official guideline from the United Nations Standing Committee on Nutrition (SCN) on the assessment of the nutritional status of adults in emergency-affected populations. This guidelines reviews the use of BMI, MUAC, clinical, and mixed indicator methods.

Arm muscle, body muscle, and creatinine excretion

Here is an article on the use of arm muscle indicators to predict creatinine excretion in children. An interesting finding is that arm muscle measured my MUAC, or MUAC and triceps skin-fold, provides a useful index of body muscle in children.

Muscle, health, and disease

Here is an article reviewing the role of muscle in health and disease (MUAC is a direct measure of muscle).

UN / SCN fact sheet on MUAC

A source for MUAC straps

MUAC straps of the numberless / colour-banded design are available from Valid International Ltd. and can be delivered by courier directly to UNO, NGO, and MoH country offices.

MUAC and W/H for prevalence and admission

Here are a report and an associated presentation on the use of MUAC and W/H (using the NCHS reference and the WHO standard) for surveys estimating the prevalence of acute undernutrition and for program admission. Both were produced by Save the Children (UK) under an agreement with UNICEF on behalf of the IASC Global Nutrition Cluster.

Presentation on MUAC response in CTC / CMAM programs

Here is a presentations from the 2008 Washington CMAM conference regarding the use of MUAC as a monitoring and discharge criteria in CTC (CMAM) programs.

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