An innovative way of treating severe acute malnutrition, combining timely detection and community based care with traditional hospital treatment for children with medical complications, could help prevent the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children, UN agencies say.

Worldwide about 20 million children under the age of 5 years have severe acute malnutrition, most of whom live in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, says the World Health Organization, and about one million die from the condition every year.

The new approach has already greatly improved survival of children with severe acute malnutrition in emergencies in countries such as Ethiopia, Malawi, Niger, and Sudan, the agencies noted.

Evidence shows that about three quarters of children with severe …