Evaluation of a residential nutrition rehabilitation center in rural Bolivia: short-term effectiveness and follow-up results.

Background: Nutrition rehabilitation centers (NRCs) have shown mixed results in reducing morbidity and mortality among undernourished children in the developing world. Follow-up on children after leaving these programs remains undocumented.

Objective: To assess the nutritional improvement of children attending the Centro de Rehabilitación Infantil Nutricional (CRIN), a residential NRC in rural Bolivia, from entrance to exit and to a household follow-up visit 1 month to 6 years later, and to identify factors associated with nutritional improvement.