Make a donation

Your browser is not up to date.

If you wish to view the Action Against Hunger website correctly, update your browser.
Find the latest versions of supported browsers listed below.

IMG_3033 (1) © Jean-Luc Luyssen pour Action contre la Faim - Burkina Faso

MANGO Project

Burkina Faso, Fada N’Gourma District

2015-2021

Academic Partners: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), University of Copenhagen (Denmark), University of Abomey-Calavi (Benin).

 

THE RESEARCH PROJECT

 

The MANGO project is a non-inferiority randomized controlled trial. 801 children aged 6-59 months suffering from severe acute malnutrition were individually allocated into two groups:

  1. 402 children in the intervention group treated with a reduced dose of RUTF
  2. 399 children in the control group treated with a standard dose of RUTF

Apart from the change in the amount of therapeutic food, both groups received the same care throughout the treatment.

The main objective of this project is to prove, under ideal conditions, the efficacy of a reduced dose of RUTF compared to a standard dose in the treatment of uncomplicated Severe Acute Malnutrition in children aged 6-59 months.

 

Visuel articles format long aplati 1890p 04oct22

Mango project

 

THE RESULTS

 

The first results are encouraging. Treatment of SAM with a reduced dose is as effective as with a standard one in terms of:

  • Weight gain velocity;
  • Rate of recovery, death, referral to health centers, default, non-respondent and relapse after 3 months;
  • Gain of fat and fat-free mass (bone, muscle);
  • Decrease of initial vitamin A and iron deficiencies;
  • Recommended daily nutrient intake covered;
  • Average probability of micronutrient adequacy ;
  • Savings (16.8%) on treatment costs.

But the reduced dose is insufficient compared to the standard dose in terms of :

  • Height gain velocity in children under 12 months;
  • Iron, vitamin A, thiamine, riboflavin, folate and vitamin B12 intakes;
  • Hemoglobin concentration and prevalence of anemia at the end of treatment.

Finally, the results show that the treatment of severe acute malnutrition can still be improved:

  • Insufficient recovery of fat mass after treatment, compared to healthy children;
  • Partial correction of vitamin A and iron deficiencies compared to healthy children at the end of treatment;
  • Discovery of the considerable part played by family and supplementary foods in the daily energy intake.

 

The results in one page

Published articles

 

ORIGINES OF THE MANGO PROJECT

 

The treatment of severe acute malnutrition uses a nutrition product called Ready-to-use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) jointly with medical treatment (amoxicillin as routine and other treatments according to individual needs). Its lipid-based nutritional formula is derived from F100 therapeutic milk one used in hospitals, and allows it to be consumed at the child’s home without strict hygiene and conservation conditions. Its dosage (quantity, duration) stemmed from that used in hospitals. It is used since the early 2000s in humanitarian programs. However, it is observed that weight gain occurs very quickly in few weeks for children treated with RUTF, reaching a plateau afterwards, while the dosage remains high and identical throughout the treatment. We hypothesize that too much was given in relation to the physiological needs for recovery from the malnutrition episode.

The treatment of severe acute malnutrition is also subject to persistent implementation problems with frequent shortages in the supply of RUTF. This product represents the largest part of the cost of treating a severely malnourished child.

A program in Myanmar showed in 2009 that the dose of RUTF could be reduced to treat a child, but this required more solid confirmation with a control group of children receiving a standard dose.

The question then arose: Can the same level of recovery be achieved with less than the standard dose of RUTF?

Reducing the dose would save money on the cost of nutritional programs. These savings could be reinvested to treat more children and thereby increase the coverage of malnourished children in need of treatment.

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

 

We would like to warmly thank the parents and children who participated in this research, their representatives, the health authorities, the donors, the academic partners (Univ. of Ouagadougou, UCL, and UAC Benin) and the entire AAH team. This study would not have been possible without the trust of the participants, the scientific expertise of our partners, the support of donors and the excellent work of the teams.

Donors : Humanitarian Innovation Fund (HIF) by ELHRA, ECHO, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), ECHO ERC, Fondation ACF – Institut de France

Stay informed of our latest news

Your e-mail adress is used to send you newsletters from Action against Hunger.
You can unsubscribe at any moment by using the link of unsubscription in the newsletter.
To know more about your data management and your rights.