Improving the quality of care for children with acute malnutrition in Uganda

Arua is one of the districts in the West Nile region of Uganda hosting a large number of refugees. Most recent estimates indicate that the prevalence of moderate and severe acute malnutrition in children in this region is significantly higher than the national estimates (10.4% and 5.6% respectively). Official data from 2016 indicated that the average cure rate of malnourished children treated at health centres (HC) level in the district was around 50%, far below the international SPHERE standards of 75%, thus suggesting deficiencies in the quality of care. So far, no robust study explored the effectiveness of Supportive Supervision (SS) in improving health outcomes of children with malnutrition.
This study aimed at testing if SS can improve outcomes of malnourished children at outpatient level, together with improving overall quality of care, quality of data, and access to care. The study also aimed at evaluating cost-effectiveness of SS.