Nutrition Rehabilitation in Hospital--a Waste of Time and Money? Evaluation of Nutrition Rehabilitation in a Rural District Hospital in South-west Tanzania. II. Long-term Results

Abstract

Results of village-level follow-up of children admitted with severe PEM in the nutrition rehabilitation programme of a rural district hospital are presented. Of 647 children eligible for follow-up 566 (87 per cent) could be traced and followed for over a year. Mortality after discharge was 8 per cent, relapse rate 13 per cent, 4 per cent still had some clinical signs of malnutrition, and 75 per cent were in good condition with considerable catch-up growth in weight (WA and WH), but not in height. The level of weight-for-height at discharge was not significantly related to long-term results.