January 07, 2022 | Brgy. Boa, Municipality of Cagdianao, Province of Dinagat Islands – The Caraga Regional Nutrition Cluster orients and demonstrates to the Barangay Nutrition Scholars of Brgy. Boa in the Municipality of Cagdianao, Province of Dinagat Islands on the proper Mid-Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) measurement.
Due to the wrath of Typhoon Odette, all of the anthropometric tools of the barangay were destroyed or washed-out including the MUAC tapes. NOII Raphael Ochavo and UNICEF Nutrition Officer Pete John Biscarra briefly oriented the Barangay Nutrition Scholars (BNSs) and demonstrated the proper use of MUAC tapes, including MUAC tapes for adults for the pregnant and lactating women. The Nutrition Cluster also provided new MUAC tapes to the BNSs for their conduct of rapid nutrition assessment and continuous monitoring of the children considered as Severely or Moderately Acute Malnourished (SAM/MAM) children in their barangay.
What is MUAC?
Mid-Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) is the circumference of the left upper arm, measured at the mid-point between the tip of the shoulder and the tip of the elbow (olecranon process and the acromium). MUAC is used for the assessment of nutritional status. It is a good predictor of mortality and in many studies, MUAC predicted death in children better than any other anthropometric indicator. This advantage of MUAC was greatest when the period of follow-up was short.
The MUAC measurement requires little equipment and is easy to perform even on the most debilitated individuals. Although it is important to give workers training in how to take the measurement, the correct technique can be readily taught to minimally trained health workers and community-based volunteers. It is thus suited to screening admissions to feeding programs during emergencies. MUAC is recommended for use with children between six and fifty-nine months of age and for assessing acute energy deficiency in adults during famine or disasters such as Typhoon Odette.
The Mid-Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) tape is a simple plastic tape used in determining the thinness to weight-for-height of a child through measuring of the circumference of an individual’s left upper arm between the tip of the shoulder and the tip of the elbow. Advantages of using this includes it is cost-effective, simple, lightweight, easy to handle, effortless to manipulate, less susceptible to errors, can used for active case finding in community-based and a preferable indicator of mortality risk. #RPOchavo
References:
- UNICEF
- Early Detection and Referral of Children with Malnutrition. Accessed from https://motherchildnutrition.org/early-malnutrition-detection/detection-referral-children-with-acute-malnutrition/muac.htm
