Because kwashiorkor, one of two major classifications of acute malnutrition, is often called “edematous malnutrition” and is diagnosed by pitting edema in both feet, any edema in compromised children is often confused with kwashiorkor.

ENN received the primary article “Generalized Oedema in COVID-19 Positive Children – A Case Series” and lacked the expertise to evaluate or edit the article. The editorial staff contacted the Kwashiorkor Working Group, an informal global collaborative of researchers and practitioners with a focus on kwashiorkor malnutrition, to provide this expertise. ENN editors also felt that the general readership would not understand enough of about kwashiorkor to relate to the article, so requested the working group write a postscript to the article they’d received. Jay Berkley and Merry Fitzpatrick agreed to join heads and pens to provide the postscript, both to give the readers a better understanding of kwashiorkor, and to apply that to the original article.

The Kwashiorkor Working Group hosted the webinar series: Revisiting the Evidence on Kwashiorkor in 2020/2021.