This new volume outlines methods of monitoring growth and weight gain, an essential clinical service. The alternative methods described here will be of particular use to workers in Third World countries where the cost of scales as well as illiteracy and cultural differences make weight-plotting especially difficult. Readers will find outlines of such innovative methods as the use of arm growth tape, simplified techniques of weight plotting, and helpful algorithms for decision-making. Among the book's appendices is a point system for comparative evaluation of weighing scales. Many illustrations help clarify the material presented in the text, making this book valuable in the classroom as well as in the field.

The field of nutritional assessment has been an active one over the last 20 years. This book - a sequel to the 1966 WHO monograph 'Assessment of Nutritional Status in the Community' - covers recent developments and techniques, as well as long-established practices. Innovations include the influence of epidemiology, anthropology, and economics; emphasis on materno-foetal nutritional surveillance and programme evaluation; description of appropriate technology for primary health care workers; and current views on anthropometric and other 'reference levels'. The authors' main aim is to link the more descriptive investigations of the past to the mathematical criteria of the present. They assemble information from a wide range of scientific disciplines, and suggest practical methods for assessment at varying levels of sophistication. The overriding concern is practicality and usefulness for those working to improve community nutrition in less technically developed countries.