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Dorion, Claire, Hunter, Paul 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5608-6144, Van Den Bergh, Rafael, Roure, Carme, Delchevalerie, Pascale, Reid, Tony and Maes, Peter
(2012)
Does village water supply affect children’s length of stay in a therapeutic feeding program in Niger? Lessons from a Médecins Sans Frontières program.
PLoS One, 7 (12).
ISSN 1932-6203
Abstract
Objective: With an increasing move towards outpatient therapeutic feeding for moderately and severely malnourished children, the home environment has become an increasingly important factor in achieving good program outcomes. Infections, including those water-borne, may significantly delay weight gain in a therapeutic feeding program. This study examined the relationship between adequacy of water supply and children’s length of stay in a therapeutic feeding program in Niger. Methods: The length of stay in a therapeutic feeding program of Médecins Sans Frontières in Niger was registered for 1518 children from 20 villages in the region. In parallel, the quality and quantity of the water source in each village were documented, and the association between adequacy of the water supply and length of stay in the program was assessed through Generalized Estimating Equation analysis. Results: 36% of the children presented with a secondary infection, 69% of which were water-related. When stratified by the adequacy of the quantity and/or quality of the water supply in their village of origin, non-adequacy of the water supply was clearly associated with a higher prevalence of secondary water-related infections and with much longer lengths of stay of malnourished children in the therapeutic feeding program. Conclusion: This study suggests that therapeutic feeding programs using an outpatient model should routinely evaluate the water supply in their target children’s villages if they are to provide optimal care.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | © 2012 Dorion et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | sdg 2 - zero hunger,sdg 6 - clean water and sanitation ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/zero_hunger |
| Faculty \ School: | Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School |
| UEA Research Groups: | Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Epidemiology and Public Health Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Public Health and Health Services Research (former - to 2023) Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Population Health |
| Depositing User: | Pure Connector |
| Date Deposited: | 05 Oct 2013 00:53 |
| Last Modified: | 19 Oct 2023 01:10 |
| URI: | https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/43438 |
| DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0050982 |
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