Rafael Castro Delgado
Doctor of Medicine, Full Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Oviedo, emergency physician (SAMU-Asturias), researcher at the Asturias Health Research Institute, coordinator of the Pre-hospital Care and Disaster Research Group, and director of the Pre-hospital Care Research Network and advisor to WHO technical working groups related to emergencies and disasters
The study is based on high-quality data and appropriate methodology, given the limitations of the war context. The fact that it is longitudinal, covering more than 1.5 years, and includes multiple data collection points lends strength to the study, allowing us to estimate that the data reflect real trends in malnutrition among the preschool population.
Compared to previous studies on child malnutrition in Gaza, this study provides longitudinal, high-quality information on the effects of war and humanitarian restrictions on the prevalence of acute malnutrition. A notable novelty is the ability to link increases and decreases in malnutrition to specific events (blockades, aid deliveries, ceasefires), showing differences according to age and geographical location, which allows for a more detailed understanding of the dynamics of hunger in conflict contexts.
The limitations are well defined, such as the selection bias of including only children who attended the centers included in the study, but the results are still highly relevant for practice and for analyzing the impact of conflict on child malnutrition. This underscores the need for rapid and sustained humanitarian aid interventions, continuous monitoring and prioritization of vulnerable groups, as well as international coordination to ensure food and health security in contexts of protracted conflict.