Research and Studies

The need to update the classification of acute malnutrition

In August, 2002, we reported positive results from treating severe acute malnutrition on an outpatient basis.1 Since then, similar community-based therapeutic care (CTC) projects, treating more than 3000 severely malnourished children in Sudan, Malawi, and Ethiopia, have replicated these findings. CTC projects include three modes of treatment: dry take-home supplementary care for people with moderate malnutrition uncomplicated by anorexia or life-threatening illness; outpatient therapeutic care for those with severe malnutrition uncomplicated by anorexia or life-threatening illness; and phase one inpatient care for severe or moderate malnutrition complicated by anorexia or concurrent life-threatening illness.