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In recent years, community-based management of acute malnutrition (CMAM) has revolutionized the care for children by increasing treatment coverage. Critical to the success of CMAM is early case identification. Mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) measurement is a widely used, practical anthropometric measure used at the community level for the identification and admission of cases to appropriate treatment services. Globally, many organizations and government services use MUAC tapes for early case detection. However, there is no one universal MUAC tape specification, and it has been observed that using different MUAC tapes results in different measurements. In this article, we aim to: (1) present the measurement discrepancies; (2) discuss design specifications and their effect on case identification and admissions; (3) present a call to action to agree on common design specifications and standardized reporting. We hope this article will catalyze discussion and practical actions among nutrition and health stakeholders to ensure we have common MUAC tape design specifications so that all eligible at-risk children will get an equal chance to be identified early for critical treatment.

This is an independent report commissioned under the DFID Systematic Review Programme for SouthAsia. This material has been funded by South Asia Research Hub, Research and Evidence Division,Department for International Development,Government of UK. The views expressed do not necessarilyreflect the UK Government's official policies. ; DFID Systematic Review Programme for South Asia ; "The authors give permission for users of the review to display and print the contents of the review for their own non-commercial use, provided that the materials are not modified, copyright and other proprietary notices contained in the materials are retained, and the source of the material is cited clearly, following the citation details provided." Interpreting this to mean we can post on repository. RVO 5/6/18