Rates and risk factors for relapse among children recovered from severe acute malnutrition in Mali, South Sudan, and Somalia: a prospective cohort study.

Background: Community-based management of acute malnutrition is an effective treatment model for severe acute malnutrition. However, sparse evidence exists on post-discharge outcomes and the sustainability of recovery. This study aimed to evaluate the risk and determinants of relapse following severe acute malnutrition recovery in high-burden settings.

The Complexity of the Seasonality of Nutritional Status: Two Annul Peaks in Child Wasting in Eastern Chad.

Background: Understanding seasonal patterns in nutritional status is critical for achieving and tracking global nutrition goals. However, the majority of nutrition seasonality research design draws on 2 or 3 within-year time points based on existing assumptions of seasonality, missing a more nuanced pattern.

Objective: We aimed to identify the intra-year variability of childhood wasting, severe wasting, and weight-for-height z-scores (WHZ) in a dryland single wet-season context and illustrate an analytical approach for improving analysis of the seasonality of nutritional status.

Seasonality of Acute Malnutrition in African Drylands: Evidence From 15 Years of SMART Surveys.

Reduction of wasting, or low weight-for-height, is a critical target for the Zero Hunger Sustainable Development Goal, yet robust evidence establishing continuous seasonal patterns of wasting is presently lacking. The current consensus of greatest hunger during the preharvest period is based on survey designs and analytical methods, which discretize time frame into preharvest/postharvest, dry/wet, or lean/plenty seasons. We present a spatiotemporally nuanced study of acute malnutrition seasonality in African drylands using a 15-year data set of Standardized Monitoring and Assessment of Relief and Transition surveys (n = 412,370).

Community Clustering of Food Insecurity and Malnutrition Associated With Systemic Drivers in Chad.

Background: Chad suffers from protracted hunger, facing high food insecurity (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification 3 and above), and acute malnutrition levels that surpass the emergency threshold (15% global acute malnutrition) yearly. The Food Security Sector, with European Union support, leads an inclusive effort to increase synergy between humanitarian, development, and peace-building actors to understand and address drivers of hunger.

Objective: To understand the spatial distribution of child wasting and household food insecurity and systemic drivers (conflict, livelihoods, vegetation, cultural norms) as well as better understand the relationship between child wasting and household food insecurity in Kanem and Bahr el Ghazal (BeG) region, Chad, with the goal of improving nexus programming and targeting.