Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), the international charity, and the medical journal The Lancet are accusing each other of damaging the cause of malnourished children. The fight has become so heated that Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet, says for now he will no longer accept articles by MSF staffers. At the center of the debate are five articles about undernutrition published by a study group and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. It is expected to have a mjor impact on policy regarding malnutrition at the next meeting of the United Nations System Standing Committee on Nutrition (SCN), in March in Hanoi, Vietnam. According to MSF, the group has ignored the impact of ready-to-use therapeutic foods, widely used by the MSF to counter acute malnutrition and in emergency situations. They believe that by not endorsing these products the study group is undermining support for such life saving strategies. Reference: Martin Enserink, Science, 319:555, (2008)
