Utilization patterns, outcomes and costs of a simplified acute malnutrition treatment programme in Burkina Faso

Abstract

Access to treatment for acute malnutrition remains a challenge, in part due to the fragmentation of treatment programmes based on case severity. This paper evaluates utilization patterns, outcomes and associated costs for treating acute malnutrition cases among a cohort of children in Burkina Faso. This study is a secondary analysis of a proof-of-concept trial, called Optimizing treatment for acute Malnutrition (OptiMA), conducted in Burkina Faso in 2016. A total of 4958 eligible children whose mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) was less than 125 mm or with oedema were followed weekly and given ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTF). We evaluated the service utilization and outcomes among patients and estimated resource use and variable cost per patient, and examined factors driving variation in resource use. Children with lower initial MUAC level grew faster but required more time to recover than those with higher initial MUAC level. They also had higher rates of death, default and nonresponse. The simplified OptiMA approach for treating acute malnutrition achieved high rates of recovery overall (84%), especially among less severe cases, with modest quantities of RUTF. The average overall variable cost per child admitted was US $38.0 (SD: 20.5

Impact of COVID-19 on Outpatient Malnutrition Centers in Urban and Rural Burkina Faso

“…Whenever feasible and available, ready-to-use therapeutic food is also used to save cost and time. 5 Thus, comparing data from both settings allows us to document the well-known subnational health inequities, which persist especially between the capital and rural communities. 6 …”