• Scaling up production

Scaling up production

This supplement, published by the Emergency Nutrition Network, focuses on community-based therapeutic care (CTC) programmes for the treatment of acute malnutrition. It presents field experiences and case studies from Ethiopia, Malawi, North Darfur in North Sudan, and South Sudan, covering management, technical, and cultural issues. Emergency nutrition is the main theme of the supplement; however, the more recent articles focus on adapting the CTC approach to the longer-term problems of food insecurity and malnutrition related to HIV and AIDS. The supplement highlights the challenge of integrating short-term, vertical nutrition interventions focused on the most vulnerable, with longer-term food security and health programmes managed by the community and government services.

The supplement concludes that CTC can improve targeting of longer-term work and provide an entry-point for reaching vulnerable mothers and HIV-affected households. Lessons learned include the importance of outreach for forging links with community groups; and the need for intensive collaboration and sensitisation of local health staff, communities and families from the beginning to ensure commitment and sustainability. The supplement recommends more work on the underlying causes of malnutrition, and rigorous on-going evaluation to refine programming, identify staff training needs, find ways of improving government ownership, and measure impact on chronic malnutrition statistics.

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