This podcast features Dr Steve Collins who was key to the development of the globally recognized community base management of acute malnutrition (CMAM) approach.  Everyone in the international nutrition sector will know how Steve’s pioneering work helped to build the evidence for ready to use therapeutic food (RUTF) and the programme approach to empower communities and the parents of malnourished children to be actively involved in the effective and safe recovery of their malnourished child at home. 

Globally, it is reported that there is now 20% coverage of treatment for children with severe acute malnutrition which is a substantial improvement compared to the pre-CMAM era. However, this is still a frustratingly low level of coverage and as Steve argues could be significantly higher if cheaper RUTFs were employed. Furthermore, Steve believes the real percentage coverage is probably much less than the globally cited 20% and that agencies which proclaim this coverage are not following the science.  In response to the slow pace of progress, Steve and colleagues have built the evidence base for a cheaper plant based (rather than milk based) RUTF to overcome one of the key obstacles to scale up which is affordability.  Steve shares his experience of how the evidence around plant based RUTF efficacy hasn’t penetrated the normative UN agency guidance for acute malnutrition treatment postulating why robust study findings have met with such resistance from several agencies. Part’s of his analysis of the RUTF story are critical and challenging and as the discussion unfolds, Steve discusses the role of international agencies and the aid system in perpetuating obstacles to transformation of aid including support for  the localization of capacity and response. 

N4D hope to have follow up pod casts with WHO, UNICEF and country actors concerned with scaling up CMAM.

Please join the debate! 

Credits: Recorded edited and published by: N4D & Nutriat.co

Theme tune: Saraweto, used with kind permission of Just East of Jazz

© N4D Group 2024

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