Click on the links below to read up to date news about the treatment and prevention of malnutrition worldwide. Or read our regional news pages.
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A research has found that visible severe wasting failed to detect approximately half of the children admitted to hospital with severe acute malnutrition diagnosed anthropometrically
WHO's Vitamin and Mineral Nutrition Information System
We have been informed that the web blog for the CMAM Conference 2011 currently taking place in Ethiopia is now available at http://cmamconference2011.org and will be updated daily as the conference progresses.
The IMTF and Faculty of Medicine University of Southampton have developed an eLearning course titled "Caring for Infants and young children with severe malnutrition" based on the WHO recommended guidelines for the management of severe malnutrition. The course aims at providing a standardised and accessible resource that will facilitate the acquisition by health professionals of core competencies in the care and management young children with severe acute malnutrition.
In the February 2011 issue of the Journal of World Public Health Nutrition Association, Michael Latham (of blessed memory), Urban Jonsson, Elizabeth Sterken and George Kent discussed issues related to Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food for the management of Severe Malnutrition.
This correspondence is available in the March issue of the Journal of the World Public Health Nutrition Association. Focussing on RUTF, the authors specifically asked the question "Is RUTF ever the right approach?"
A paper has demonstrated that an oral ciprofloxacin dose of 10 mg/kg three times daily (30 mg/kg/day) may be a suitable alternative antibiotic for the management of sepsis in severely malnourished children.
The UK's Department for International Development (DFID) has released UK’s position paper on Scaling Up Nutrition. The document explains why the UK is scaling up to reduce global undernutrition and what this means.
Attending FANUS 2011?
The Federation of African Nutrition Societies 2011 meeting will be held at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, Nigeria from the 11th to 14th September 2011 on the theme “Accelerating Nutrition Action for Africa’s development”.
The Federation of African Nutrition Societies (FANUS) in collaboration with Nutrition Society, Nigeria presents the 2nd FANUS meeting to be held in Abuja, Nigeria.
In this recent world report published in the Lancet, an estimated 8·8 million people in east Africa are going hungry, and a sluggish international response is failing to address the growing crisis, which is approaching famine conditions in some areas.
A meeting will be held in November 2011 in Addis Ababa Ethiopia to facilitate the sharing of lessons learned and build consensus on a range of issues relating to national scale-up of CMAM.
Isanaka S, Grais RF, Briend A, Checchi
Abstract
Expected incidence of acute malnutrition is the most appropriate measure for projecting the needs of a nutritional treatment program over time in terms of staffing, food, and other treatments, but direct estimation of incidence is rarely feasible at the onset of an intervention.
Nielsen J, Prudhon C, de Radigues X.
The humanitarian response to the crisis in Darfur is considered the largest humanitarian operation in the world. Nielsen et al conducted a meta-analysis of 164 publicly available surveys to analyse trends in malnutrition and mortality in Dafur, Sudan.
Wilford R, Golden K, Walker DG.
The study showed that scaling-up CMAM within essential health services in Dowa District, Malawi was cost-effective and scaling up CMAM in similar contexts is also likely to be cost-effective
FANTA-2 has published Community-Based Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) Costing Tool.
A study has found that wasting among infants under 6 months is prevalent in many developing countries whether NCHS or WHO definitions are used. However using WHO standards to define wasting results in a greater disease burden, particularly for severe wasting.
TARUN GERA
This systematic review showed that the use of therapeutic nutrition products like RUTF for home based management of uncomplicated SAM appears to be safe and efficacious.
“Education and professional core competencies for nutritional practice and nutritional support and training of health workers in the treatment and prevention of nutritional problems across the life cycle”
Nutritionists and related health professionals attending the 4th African Nutrition and Epidemiology Conference in Nairobi resolved for core competencies for nutrition practice and support and management of nutritional problems.
“CARING FOR SEVERE MALNUTRITION (SM) OF INFANTS AND YOUNG CHILDREN AS A CORE COMPETENCY FOR PAEDIATRIC HEALTH PROFESSIONALS”
Indian Pediatrics has brought out a Special Issue (August 2010) on Severe Acute Malnutrition, which deliberates in detail on the global and national evidence relating to pertinent issues on this subject.
Pediatricians meeting at the 26th Internal Paediatric Association (IPA) Congress of Pediatrics in Johannesburg, South Africa, called on the IPA to make Caring for Severe Malnutrition of Infants and Children as a Core Competency for Paedatric Health Professionals.
Hendricks KM. Nutr Rev. 2010 Jul;68(7):429-35.
Abstract
Undernutrition is a major contributor to child mortality and total global disease burden. Ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) is recommended by the World Health Organization for community-based management of uncomplicated forms of severe acute malnutrition.
By Samuel Loewenberg The Lancet 2010;376:579-81
Niger is facing a catastrophyic hunger crisis as aid agencies scramble to secure funding to feed more than half of the country's 8 million people.
The International Malnutrition Task Force invites participants attending the International Paediatric Congress 2010 in Johannesburg to a Pre-Congress Workshop titled "Caring for Severely Malnourished Children as a Core Competency"
Date: August 4th 2010
Time: 8:30-16:30
Venue: Hall G/Committee Room 5 Sandton Convention Centre
The 38 issue of Field Exchange by the Emergency Nutrition Network has been released.
Among the topics discussed in this issue included:
Nackers F, Broillet F, Oumarou D, Djibo A, Gaboulaud V, Guerin PJ, Rusch B, Grais RF, Captier V.
A study has found that RUTF resulted in a higher weight gain, a higher recovery rate, a shorter length of stay and a lower transfer rate to the Inpatient-Therapeutic Feeding Centres (I-TFC) compared to a Corn/Soy Blend (CSB) pre-mix among children located in the Zinder Region in Niger.
By Hugh Schofield
BBC News, Paris
Posted on Thursday, 8 April 2010 20:03
Should a revolutionary humanitarian food product be protected by commercial patent, when lifting restrictions might save millions of starving children?
That is the moral conundrum at the heart of a bitter transatlantic legal dispute.
On one side are the French inventors of Plumpy'nut, a peanut paste which in the last five years has transformed treatment of acute malnutrition in Africa.
Nutriset, the Normandy-based company, says the patent is needed to safeguard production of Plumpy'nut in the developing world, and to stop the market being swamped by cheap US surpluses.
Giugliani C, Duncan BB, Harzheim E, Breysse S, Jarrige L.
A study has shown that short-term intervention with in-service supervision based on the WHO guidelines in a setting of limited resources contributed to a reduction in fatality rates from severe malnutrition
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is mandated within the human health programme to seek to accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to preace, health and prosperity throughout the world. The objective is to enhance the capabilities of IAEA Member States in addressing issues related to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of health problems through the development and application of nuclear techniques, within a framework of quality assurance.
Edesia LLC, a non-profit producer of life-saving Ready-to-Use Foods (RUFs), is the recipient of a $2 million multi-year grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Katherine Hampshire, Rachel Casiday, Kate Kilpatrick and Catherine Panter-Brick
ABSTRACT
In 2004–05, Niger suffered a food crisis during which global attention focused on high levels of acute malnutrition among children. In response, decentralised emergency nutrition programmes were introduced into much of southern Niger.
Mark J. Manary, Heidi L. Sandige and Kenneth Maleta
Treating severely malnourished children with a 10 percent milk RUTF results in a lower rate of recovery and slower growth rates when compared to the standard 25 percent milk RUTF
A training manual on Integration of Infant and Young Child Feeding into Community Based Managment of Acute Malnutrition has been produced by ENN, IFE Core Group & collaborators.
The current issue of Field Exchange of the Emergency Nutrition Network presents several topics which would be relevant to visitors of the IMTF website. These include
Israëls T, Borgstein E, Jamali M, de Kraker J, Caron HN, Molyneux EM.
This study concluded that acute malnutrition, superimposed on chronic malnutrition, is common in patients with Wilms tumour in Malawi. Chiponde, a peanut butter based ready-to-use-therapeutic-food, is an attractive means of nutritional support which needs further study.
In-spite of abundant literature on the epidemiology and management of Protein Endery Malnutrition (PEM), focus on metabolism and therapeutic drug monitoring is lacking. This review discussed the pathophysiological changes in children with PEM that may affect the disposition of drugs frequently used for their treatment.
Guerrier G, Zounoun M, Delarosa O, Defourny I, Lacharite M, Brown V, Pedalino B.
The study found a high mortality rate among Internally Displaced Persons and an elevated prevalence of wasting not only in IDP camps but also in villages located in the same region.
The Food and Nutrition Bulletin, vol 30, No 3 (2009) Supplement published in September, 2009, featured articles mainly on Managment of children with Moderate Malnutrition and other related topics.
The Preventing Malnutrition in Children Under 2 Approach (PM2A) is a food-assisted approach to reducing the prevalence of child malnutrition by targeting a package of health and nutrition interventions to all pregnant women, mothers of children 0-23 months and children under 2 in food-insecure program areas, regardless of nutritional status.
The 19th International Congress of Nutrition was held in Bangkok Thailand from 4-9 October 2009 under the theme “Food Security for All”. It was the first to be held in Asia in 20 years and was attended by several thousand nutrition scientists from all over the world.
Greenaway, Kate. Food by Prescription: A Landscape Paper. Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). Geneva, Switzerland, 2009
Although HIV testing is increasingly available and efforts to support the nutritional needs of people living with HIV have intensified appreciably, antiretroviral therapy (ART) service providers continue to report large numbers of clients presenting with advanced disease and acute malnutrition. In some ART programs, as many as 33 percent of all first-visit clients are unable to walk into the clinic without assistance, correlating with high rates of mortality in the first 90 days of treatment. In response, there has been a rapid proliferation of Food by Prescription (FBP) programs, designed to ensure efficient and effective nutrition care and rehabilitation for people enrolled in HIV care and treatment programs.
The 10th Commonwealth Association of Paediatric Gastroentorologists and Nutritionists (CAPGAN) Conference on Diarrhoea and Malnutrition was held in Blantyre, Malawi from the 12-16 August 2009.
The conference brought together practitioners from around the Commonwealth to discuss child health.
A Workshop on Management of SAM Children through Medical Nutrition Therapy is being jointly organised in India by:
The International Malnutrition Task Force (IMTF) for the prevention and control of malnutrition was launched in September 2005 in Durban at the 18th International Congress of Nutrition
Going to Bangkok?
The International Malnutrition Task Force has organised the following sessions.
The International Paediatrics Association has announced the 26th Congress of Paediatrics 2010 to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa from 4-9 August 2010.
This new book by Burgess, Bijlsma and Ismael is intended for health and other development professionals who work at community and district level, as well as teachers and students of nutrition.
Isabelle Defourny, Andrea Minetti, Ge´za Harczi, Ste´phane Doyon, Susan Shepherd, Milton Tectonidis, Jean-Herve´ Bradol, Michael Golden
This study demonstrated the potential for distribution of fortified spreads to reduce the incidence of severe wasting in large population of children 6–36 months of age in a District of the Maradi Region, Niger.
"India has asked UNICEF to stop distributing millions of dollars worth of nutrition aid to children, saying it had been done without permission and at the expense of local food to fight hunger," Reuters reports. Since August 2008, UNICEF has invested about $2.4 million importing "a high energy relief treatment known as 'Ready to Use Therapeutic Food' (RUTF)" for children with severe acute malnutrition in the states of Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, according to the news service (Williams, 8/4).
Nutrition in Emergencies is an intensive five day course designed to introduce participants to the latest knowledge and best practice in the sector.
The aim of the course is to give participants an overview of nutrition in humanitarian emergencies, including the types of malnutrition, both direct and underlying causes of malnutrition, how malnutrition is measured, and common nutritional interventions.
The current issue (issue 141) of HIV and AIDS Treatment in Practice (HATiP) publication discusses
Kerac M, Bunn J, Seal A, Thindwa M, Tomkins A, Sadler K, Bahwere P, Collins S.
In Malawi, Synbiotic2000 Forte did not improve severe acute malnutrition outcomes.
Nathanael Lapidus, Francisco J. Luquero, Valérie Gaboulaud, Susan Shepherd, Rebecca F. Grais
A study of children being treated for malnutrition in Niger has shown that, Weight-for-Height indicators calculated using WHO standards were more accurate for predicting mortality risk than those calculated using the NCHS reference.
UMESH KAPIL
This editorial discusses the issues surrounding Home-based management of Severe Acute Malnutrition with Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food. It also outlines advantages of Home-Based against hospital-based management of SAM.
In India, 48% of children under five years of age are stunted and 43% are underweight: almost 8 million children suffer from Severe Acute Malnutrition.
Dr Prasad and colleagues are of the view that "the current thinking - that a centrally produced and processed Ready to use Therapeutic Foods should supplant the locally prepared indigenous foods in treating SAM - ignores the multiple causes of malnutrition and destroys the diversity of potential solutions based on locally available foods".
The 6th World Congress on Developmental Origins of Health and Disease has been announced.
The 19th International Congress of Nutrition themed Nutrition Security for all would take place in BITEC, Bangkok Thailand from 4-9 October 2009
An African-based working group now exists to examine the impact of the HIV virus on severely malnourished children.
An electronic version of the WHO training course on the inpatient management of severe acute malnutrition has been developed by private company Microlink PC UK with the University of Southampton.
Guidance on inpatient antibiotic treatment for severely malnourished children in areas of high HIV prevalence has been changed. It is recommended that places with high HIV prevalence adapt hospital-based practices accordingly.
