THE World Health Organization (WHO) formulated new guidelines on November 27 to treat children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM). These guidelines are to be used as an interim measure till the results of an inter-governmental study on malnutrition are out. The proposals, which see a shift from hospitalisation to home-based treatment for SAM, have been welcomed by public health experts and doctors in India. But the proposal to give ready-to-use therapeutic food, or RUTF, has drawn flak. Read here