MANGO Research Project Flyer

Treatment for severe acute malnutrition (SAM) significantly improved from protein rich diets (‘50s) to F-75 and F-100 formula in hospital based treatment to Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTF) for the Community-based Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM). Despite these significant changes in treatment formulation and service delivery, the dose of RUTF for SAM treatment has not been revised since. Today, RUTF is dosed according to body weight and does not take into account possible reduced needs as the child is recovering.

In 2009, due to RUTF pipeline problems and increased caseload, SAM children in Myanmar were successfully treated through an alternative protocol (recovery rate 90.2%). Children admitted with SAM who were already partly recovered (i.e. WHZ >-3 and MUAC>110mm) were treated with a single dose of RUTF (1 sachet) for the end of the treatment until discharge. This treatment change was delivered through enhanced quality of services, which could have contributed to the success and high recovery rate.