PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Steve Collins
TI  - Treating severe acute malnutrition seriously
AID  - 10.1136/adc.2006.098327
DP  - 2007 May 01
TA  - Archives of Disease in Childhood
PG  - 453--461
VI  - 92
IP  - 5
4099  - http://adc.bmj.com/content/92/5/453.short
4100  - http://adc.bmj.com/content/92/5/453.full
SO  - Arch Dis Child2007 May 01; 92
AB  - Severe acute malnutrition (SAM) affects approximately 13 million children under the age of 5 and is associated with 1–2 million preventable child deaths each year. In most developing countries, case fatality rates (CFRs) in hospitals treating SAM remain at 20–30% and few of those requiring care actually access treatment. Recently, community-based therapeutic care (CTC) programmes treating most cases of SAM solely as outpatients have dramatically reduced CFRs and increased the numbers receiving care. CTC uses ready-to-use therapeutic foods and aims to increase access to services, promoting early presentation and compliance, thereby increasing coverage and recovery rates. Initial data indicate that this combination of centre-based and community-based care is cost effective and should be integrated into mainstream child survival programmes.