NEW EVIDENCE FROM BIHAR ON COMMUNITY-BASED MANAGEMENT OF SEVERE ACUTE MALNUTRITION

New Delhi/Patna, April 6, 2015: The international humanitarian medical organisation, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) recently published evidence from its community-based management of acute malnutrition (CMAM) programme in Bihar, which revealed that it has successfully achieved a cure rate of 88.4% among severely acute malnourished children who completed their treatment.
This conclusion was part of a study entitled, ‘Community-Based Management of Severe Acute Malnutrition in India: New evidence from Bihar, which was published on April 1, 2015 in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the world’s highest ranked peer-reviewed medical journal in the field of nutrition.
This observational analysis was conducted by MSF in collaboration with Darbhanga Medical College Hospital, and is based on results from the CMAM programme that has been operational in Bihar’s Darbhanga district since 2009.
The study details the results obtained between February 2009 and September 2011, during which time a total of 8,274 children aged 6-59 months old suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) were admitted into the CMAM programme.
“Of the total number of children, 87.3% belonged to Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, or Other Backward Caste families or households; 79.9% were between 6 months to 2 years, and 62.2% were girls,´´ said one of the authors, Dr Prince Mathew, suggesting that severe acute malnutrition is disproportionately a condition of the most vulnerable populations.
The study also reveals that the majority (90.7%) of SAM cases were uncomplicated and treated as outpatients in the community using an Indian manufactured, WHO-standard, ready-to-use, therapeutic lipid-based paste; whereas the minority of cases with medical complications were treated as inpatients using therapeutic milk until they were fit to resume treatment in the community.
Treatment for severe acute malnutrition is a lengthy process, taking on average seven weeks. As such, outpatient treatment that allows the child to remain at home with only weekly visits to the treatment centre (unless critically unwell), makes it much easier for caregivers to manage than lengthy stays in the hospital.
Similar to existing hospital-based treatments, CMAM was hindered by a substantial default rate of 38%. However, the conclusions of the study indicate that low mortality and high cure rates in severely malnourished children who complete their treatment can be achieved by implementing a community-based model of care.
When children suffer from acute malnutrition, their immune systems are compromised and they are more susceptible to complications from common childhood diseases, such as respiratory infection or diseases of the digestive system. By identifying them before medical complications set-in, majority of the severely malnourished children can be treated in community settings, not too far from their homes.
With an estimated 8.1 million under-5-years-old SAM children (NFHS-3) in India, MSF calls upon authorities to implement and scale up community-based management initiatives integrated within the public health system in order to save more lives and reduce the burden of acute malnutrition in India.
MSF in Darbhanga, Bihar
·         In close collaboration with the Bihar State Health Society, MSF continues to work with the medical staff in Darbhanga’s 11 primary health centres to ensure proximity and continuity of care to malnourished children.
·         Since 2009, MSF has treated more than 17,000 severe acute malnourished patients, aged between six months and five years. Its CMAM programme remains the only community-based treatment programme for severe acute malnutrition in India.
 
To learn more about the study and its findings, see: https://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/101/4/847.full.pdf+html
 
MSF in India
MSF is an international, independent, medical humanitarian organisation that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, exclusion from healthcare and natural disasters. MSF has been working in India since 1999, and provides medical treatment to thousands of patients in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Manipur and Telangana. To support MSF or simply to obtain the latest information on MSF’s medical humanitarian work in India and around the world, visit our website www.MSFindia.in.
 
 
For more information, please contact:
Pujya Pascal, Advocacy Coordinator: +91 9910944506
DVL Padma Priya, Press Officer: +91 9650061067



Show Buttons
Share On Facebook
Share On Twitter
Share On Linkedin
Contact us
Hide Buttons