Effectiveness and coverage of severe acute malnutrition treatment with a simplified protocol in a humanitarian context in Diffa, Niger
The research team conducted a non-randomized community-controlled trial.
Abstract
This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness and coverage of a simplified protocol that is implemented in health centres (HCs) and health posts (HPs) for children who are suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in the humanitarian context of Diffa.
The research team conducted a non-randomized community-controlled trial. The control group received outpatient treatment for SAM, without medical complications, at HCs and HPs with the standard protocol of community management of acute malnutrition (CMAM). Meanwhile, with respect to the intervention group, the children with SAM received treatment at the HCs and HPs through a simplified protocol wherein the mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) and the presence of edema were used as the admission criteria, and the children with SAM were administered doses of fixed ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF).
The simplified protocol used at the HCs and HPs did not result in worse recovery and resulted in fewer discharge errors compared to the standard protocol.
This research was supported by the Research for Health in Humanitarian Crises (R2HC) Programme.
Citation
Charle-Cuéllar P, Lopez-Ejeda N, Aziz Gado A, Dougnon AO, Sanoussi A, Ousmane N, Hamidou Lazoumar R, Sánchez-Martínez LJ, Toure F, Vargas A, and others. ‘Effectiveness and Coverage of Severe Acute Malnutrition Treatment with a Simplified Protocol in a Humanitarian Context in Diffa, Niger’ Nutrients 2023: volume 15, issue 8, page 1975. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15081975