Dr Kirrily de Polnay is a medical doctor trained in the UK with a background in paediatrics. She first started working in low resource settings 20 years ago and has worked for local and international NGOs as well as in government run health facilities.

She spent 10 years with Médecins Sans Frontières both in country and at headquarters in Brussels as well as two years at the Institute of Tropical medicine in Antwerp. She has recently joined UNICEF HQ after two years working for WHO HQ on the development of the new global guideline on the management of acute malnutrition. Her current role focuses on the implementation of this guideline at national level.