FOREWORD

The use of anthropometry has increased rapidly in recent years. With this wider use, it has become even more important that the interpretation of results, for the individual and for populations, should be correct and well understood. I requested the Advisory Group on Nutrition at its first meeting in 1988 to help to define the issues. This led to the AGN proposing a workshop, for which they developed and approved terms of reference in early 1989. A number of the most experienced scientists in the field participated in the workshop convened by the SCN at WHO Headquarters in Geneva in June 1989. The workshop resolved most of the outstanding issues and provided much detail on specific uses of anthropometry.

The workshop report, reviewed first by the participants, was examined carefully by the AGN, and discussed by the Sub-Committee at its meeting at UNESCO, in Paris in early 1990. A group was appointed to finalize the document, which now includes explanatory material so that the conclusions are set in context for a wider audience. It should now truly provide a view of the current "State-of-the-Art" of appropriate uses of child anthropometry. I am particularly grateful for the painstaking work of Drs Beaton and Martorell in ensuring that the issues, sometimes complex, are correctly addressed.

We hope this document will find extensive use among all those concerned with improving the nutrition of children.

A Horwitz
Chairman
ACC Sub-Committee on Nutrition