Dear all,

Thank you all for your interest about the OUADI'Nut research project (funded by the NEEP and ACF_ See project sheet attached).
Special thanks to Elizabeth for sharing links to the project presentation which was made last August in Stockholm.

As she points out, this project is a two-year study and we are now halfway through, so we can not yet possible to disseminate results.

However, I can still make you some state of tracking points:
-The Ouadinut project took a little delay due to the decline in admissions to the Outpatient Nutritional Units supported by ACF in recent months (partly explained by out-of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF)).
-The field part of the project have been extended until June 2016, partly financed by the Research Foundation ACF, the NEEP but always in search of additional financial partner).
-However The project is already showing quite visible results in terms of reduced relapse (PB <115) decrease in cases of children at risk of relapse (PB 115 to 124), death and abandonment.

-I would be traveling to Chad for two weeks from October 8 to track ACF WASH projects in the country, including the Ouadi'Nut. On this occasion we will make a small photo report on the progress of the project in the field by ACF teams.

I also want to join in the post PJ France ACF research currently underway.

Regards,

Claire

clear

Dear Ngala Parvin,

Good that you have picked up this thread, one year after the last post.
At first I thought this project is the same as the WASH and nutrition project in Chad run by Concern Worldwide. I made a post about that one here yesterday:
forum.susana.org/forum/categories/92-nut...cern-worldwide#14924

They seem to be separate and I wonder if they somehow work together or alongside?

About this project in Chad by ACF, I took a look at the meeting from from the 20th SuSanA meeting in Stockholm last month, as I know that ACF is a very active SuSanA partner (which is great).

If you use the function Ctrl+F on this page:
www.susana.org/en/events/susana-meetings...na-meeting-stockholm

then you find ACF mentioned five times.

An update about the project in Chad that you asked about is given in this presentation:
www.susana.org/images/documents/04-meeti...d_jovana-dodos_1.pdf

It is a 2-year study and they are now at the half way point. The presentation outlines their methodology.

The objective of the research is to assess the effectiveness of adding
a Household WASH component to the standard outpatient treatment
of severe acute malnutrition.

Their study design is shown here:



These nutrition studies always take quite a long time to complete, as it takes a while to see effects. So I guess we have to be patient.

But I hope that Carlotta or Jean (or Jovana Dodos) from ACF could tell us a bit more on how it's going so far?

Regards,
Elisabeth

Just checking..one year on, what were the findings from the WASH in Nut research project?

Hi Carlotta,

That's excellent and it would be a good opportunity if Karl or someone else from ACF could present this briefly as part of the SuSanA WG12 "WASH-Nutrition" meeting in Stockholm during World Water Week (Thursday, Sept. 4, 11:30, room t.b.a.).

What do you think?

Best

rob

That should be quite interesting. Could you give us some more details about the general (hygiene) conditions of the households in the study? Also: what will be the length of this study?

It might not actually show a lower prevalence of diarrhea though as those on/off heavy events are often caused by other reasons than polluted water, and hygiene is never perfect.

For water treatment you seem to be planning to use chlorine tablets or a combined product like PUR? Have these been pre-tested for acceptability (smell and taste of chlorine) and effectiveness (not too high turbidity)?

Dear all,

I would like to inform you about a research project Action contre la Faim (ACF) will be conducting in the next months, called Benefits of a household WASH package to Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) program in Chad.

The ‘WASH in Nut’ strategy for Sahel led to the introduction of a list of specific WASH activities for CMAM beneficiaries aiming at protecting malnourished children against worsening of their nutritional status, and potential relapses caused by WASH related infections. ACF now considers crucial to evaluate the effect of this package in a Sahelian context characterized by high prevalence of severe acute malnutrition, through a research project.

This research project will start in September, 2014 in the Kanem region in Chad, where ACF is already intervening in WASH and Nutrition. It will consist in assessing the benefit of adding a “home WASH package” (water treatment and hygiene kit + hygiene promotion) to nutritional rehabilitation of children under 5 suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) without medical complications receiving OTP (Outpatient Therapeutic Program) treatment.

The study design is a Randomized Controlled Trial with a total of 2500 children in 10 different areas: 50% in the control group (receiving OTP treatment) and 50% in the intervention group (receiving OTP treatment + the household WASH package).

Household Wash package is composed of a household water treatment and hygiene kit (water container, water disinfection consumables, soap, cup, hygiene promotion leaflet), hygiene promotion sessions to the child caregiver at health center level (hygiene kit and water treatment demonstrations, hygiene related care practices messages), and a household visit during the treatment (inclusing a hygiene refresh training).

3 hypotheses will guide the study:

1) Children affected by Severe Acute Malnutrition receiving OTP treatment and benefiting from a “home WASH package” have a lower prevalence of diarrhea during the course of their treatment.

2) They have better outcomes in terms of weight gain during treatment.

3) They are less at risk of relapse after successful treatment.

Please do not hesitate to share your comments on this study or to share other similar studies you might know about.

Regards,
Carlotta