1. Effect of preventive supplementation with ready-to-use therapeutic food on the nutritional status, mortality, and morbidity of children aged 6 to 60 months in Niger: a cluster randomized trial
- Author
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Sheila Isanaka, Nohelly Nombela, Ali Djibo, Marie Poupard, Dominique Van Beckhoven, Valérie Gaboulaud, Philippe J. Guerin, and Rebecca F. Grais
- Subjects
Male ,Pediatrics ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Population ,InformationSystems_INFORMATIONSTORAGEANDRETRIEVAL ,Nutritional Status ,Context (language use) ,Child Nutrition Sciences ,Growth ,Article ,Infant Mortality ,medicine ,Humans ,Cluster randomised controlled trial ,Niger ,education ,Wasting ,Developing Countries ,Food, Formulated ,education.field_of_study ,business.industry ,Wasting Syndrome ,Incidence (epidemiology) ,Infant ,General Medicine ,medicine.disease ,Confidence interval ,Malnutrition ,Therapeutic food ,Data_GENERAL ,Child, Preschool ,Child Mortality ,Female ,Infant Food ,medicine.symptom ,Morbidity ,business - Abstract
To access this article, click on "Additional Links"., CONTEXT: Ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTFs) are an important component of effective outpatient treatment of severe wasting. However, their effectiveness in the population-based prevention of moderate and severe wasting has not been evaluated. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of a 3-month distribution of RUTF on the nutritional status, mortality, and morbidity of children aged 6 to 60 months in Niger. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A cluster randomized trial of 12 villages in Maradi, Niger. Six villages were randomized to intervention and 6 to no intervention. All children in the study villages aged 6 to 60 months were eligible for recruitment. INTERVENTION: Children with weight-for-height 80% or more of the National Center for Health Statistics reference median in the 6 intervention villages received a monthly distribution of 1 packet per day of RUTF (92 g [500 kcal/d]) from August to October 2006. Children in the 6 nonintervention villages received no preventive supplementation. Active surveillance for conditions requiring medical or nutritional treatment was conducted monthly in all 12 study villages from August 2006 to March 2007. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Changes in weight-for-height z score (WHZ) according to the World Health Organization Child Growth Standards and incidence of wasting (WHZ
- Published
- 2009