Integrated program achieves good survival but moderate recovery rates among children with severe acute malnutrition in India

Abstract

Background: At any point in time, an average 8 million Indian children suffer from severe acute malnutrition (SAM). Objective: This article assesses the effectiveness of an integrated model for the management of SAM (IM-SAM) in India comprising facility- and community-based care and using locally adapted protocols. Design: Children (n = 2740) were randomly sampled from the 44,017 children aged 6–59 mo admitted to 199 Nutrition Rehabilitation Centers in the state of Madhya Pradesh (1 January to 31 December 2010). Results: On admission, 2.2% of children had edema, 23.4% had medical complications, 56% were girls, 79% were in the age group 6–23 mo, and 64% belonged to scheduled tribe or scheduled caste families. Fifty-six children (2.0%) with severe congenital or pathological conditions were transferred to the district hospital. Of the 2684 program exits, 10 children (0.4%) died, 860 (32.0%) did not complete treatment (defaulted), and 1814 (67.6%) were discharged after a mean (±SD) stay of 75.8 ± 9.4 d. The mean weight gain among discharged children was 2.7 ± 1.9 g · kg body wt⁻¹ · d⁻¹; on discharge, 1179 (65%) of the children had recovered (weight gain ≥15% of initial weight). Conclusions: The survival rates in the IM-SAM program were very high. However, the moderate recovery rates documented seem to indicate that the protocols currently in use need to be improved. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01917734.