ArticleBMC nutrition2025
Outpatient treatment of children with severe acute malnutrition within the health care system in a humanitarian crisis: a cross-sectional study in Uganda during the Horn of Africa drought response.
Article in BMC nutrition, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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1 citing paper in PubMed.
- The case for computational and artificial intelligence-based approaches for sustainable functional food systems for sub-Saharan Africa.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Article
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17 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundUganda, situated within the Greater Horn of Africa, is currently facing a severe food insecurity crisis with the Karamoja sub-region and its neighboring districts being the most severely impacted. This sub-region exhibits the highest rate of wasting among children under the age of five, at 10%, which is significantly higher than the national average of 3.6%. This study aimed to assess the capacity of the health care system to provide quality treatment outcomes for children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in outpatient therapeutic care facilities.
methodsA total of 150 health facilities across 15 districts were selected. Nutrition service delivery within the health system was assessed using an adapted Ministry of Health (MoH) Nutrition Services Delivery Assessment Tool. Key indicators-cure, death, and defaulter rates-from outpatient therapeutic care services for SAM treatment were extracted from the MoH District Health Management Information System 2 (DHIS2) for the period 2020-2023. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS.
resultsThe average cure rate for children with SAM in outpatient therapeutic care was 62.3%, falling below the MoH standard of 75%. While death rates remained within the recommended threshold (< 10%), defaulter rates consistently exceeded the 15% benchmark, except in 2023. Gaps in service delivery included frequent stockouts of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) (44.9%) and the absence of outpatient therapeutic care services at designated health facilities (35.6%). Positively, 98% of health facilities had a core management team, and 81.3% had a designated nutrition focal person.
conclusionThe quality of treatment outcomes for children admitted with severe acute malnutrition at outpatient therapeutic care facilities in this setting was below MoH standards. Strengthening supply chains and expanding services are essential to improving SAM outcomes. Despite these challenges, core management teams and designated nutrition focal persons in most facilities present an opportunity to enhance governance and integrate sustainable solutions.
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