ArticleThe British journal of nutrition2020
New approach to simplifying and optimising acute malnutrition treatment in children aged 6-59 months: the OptiMA single-arm proof-of-concept trial in Burkina Faso.
Article in The British journal of nutrition, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 3 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 43 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Evaluation of the Treatment of Moderate and Severe Acute Malnutrition in Outpatient Care Services in Venezuela: a Multicentric and Prospective Cohort Research
Effectiveness of an Alternative Protocol in the Management of Acute Malnutrition in Children Aged 6-59 Months in Burkina Faso: Reduced Dose of RUTF for SAM Children and RUTF Instead of RUSF for MAM Children
OptiMAx: Incentivizing EPI Vaccination Via Distribution of SQ-LNS Nutritional Supplementation to Children From Age 6-11 Months Until 18 Months of Age in Rural Chad and Niger, With a Cost Effectiveness Analysis Protocol for a Research Study Nested in the OptiMA Research Study in Ngouri Health District, Lake Region, Chad and Mirriah Health District, Zinder Region, Niger
Who cites it
43 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Lay health workers in primary and community health care for maternal and child health: identification and treatment of wasting in children.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2023Pooled it
- Linear Growth During Treatment With a Simplified, Combined Protocol: Secondary Analyses of Severely Wasted Children 6-59 Months in the ComPAS Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.Maternal & child nutrition · 2025Trial
- Effect of a simplified approach on recovery of children 6-59 months with wasting in Ethiopia: A noninferiority, cluster randomized controlled trial.Maternal & child nutrition · 2024Trial
- Effectiveness of decentralizing outpatient acute malnutrition treatment with community health workers and a simplified combined protocol: a cluster randomized controlled trial in emergency settings of Mali.Frontiers in public health · 2024Trial
- Treating high-risk moderate acute malnutrition using therapeutic food compared with nutrition counseling (Hi-MAM Study): a cluster-randomized controlled trial.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2021Trial
- Trial
- Trial
- Assessing WHO prioritisation criteria for children 6-59 months treated for moderate wasting in a MUAC-based protocol: a multicountry analysis in West and Central Africa.BMJ global health · 2026Observational
- Geographic priorities in the global action plan for wasting: Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya and Malawi.Bulletin of the World Health Organization · 2026Article
- Article
- Article
- Reducing relapses after acute malnutrition treatment: evidence from a simplified approach in emergency settings of Mali.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Optimizing management of uncomplicated acute malnutrition in children in rural Niger: a 3-arm individually randomized, controlled, noninferiority trial.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2025Article
- Effect of Family MUAC Utilization in Identifying Severity of Acute Malnutrition at Admission to Nutrition Programs Among Children Aged 6-59 Months Ethiopia.Maternal & child nutrition · 2025Article
- Microbiome-directed food to promote sustained recovery in children with uncomplicated acute malnutrition: protocol for a randomized controlled trial in Burkina Faso.BMC nutrition · 2025Article
- A qualitative study to explore mother's experiences of a family MUAC project in two provinces in South Africa.BMC nutrition · 2025Article
- Weight gain among children under five with severe malnutrition in therapeutic feeding programmes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.EClinicalMedicine · 2025Article
- Article
- Article
- Effectiveness of acute malnutrition treatment with a simplified, combined protocol in Central African Republic: An observational cohort study.Maternal & child nutrition · 2024Observational
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The Optimising treatment for acute MAlnutrition (OptiMA) strategy trains mothers to use mid upper arm circumference (MUAC) bracelets for screening and targets treatment to children with MUAC < 125 mm or oedema with one therapeutic food at a gradually reduced dose. This study seeks to determine whether OptiMA conforms to SPHERE standards (recovery rate > 75 %). A single-arm proof-of-concept trial was conducted in 2017 in Yako district, Burkina Faso including children aged 6-59 months in outpatient health centres with MUAC < 125 mm or oedema. Outcomes were stratified by MUAC category at admission. Multivariate survival analysis was carried out to identify variables predictive of recovery. Among 4958 children included, 824 (16·6 %) were admitted with MUAC < 115 mm or oedema, 1070 (21·6 %) with MUAC 115-119 mm and 3064 (61·8 %) with MUAC 120-124 mm. The new dosage was correctly implemented at all visits for 75·9 % of children. Global recovery was 86·3 (95 % CI 85·4, 87·2) % and 70·5 (95 % CI 67·5, 73·5) % for children admitted with MUAC < 115 mm or oedema. Average therapeutic food consumption was 60·8 sachets per child treated. Recovery was positively associated with mothers trained to use MUAC prior to child's admission (adjusted hazard ratio 1·09; 95 % CI 1·01, 1·19). OptiMA was successfully implemented at the scale of an entire district under 'real-life' conditions. Programme outcomes exceeded SPHERE standards, but further study is needed to determine if increasing therapeutic food dosages for the most severely malnourished will improve recovery.
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Registered trials
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