Growth monitoring--is it a task worth doing in South Africa?

Childhood undernutrition is a serious public health problem in South Africa. Growth monitoring (GM) is a central tool in attempts to prevent and detect undernutrition. Despite its widespread adoption by international and national agencies, there has been very little evidence which shows that it has made an impact in reducing undernutrition. An important problem has been the conceptual confusion as to the exact role of GM. This article reviews the international evidence for the effectiveness of GM when used in various roles and proposes some of the factors necessary for GM to be successful in South Africa.