Publications by authors named "Shepherd Mudzingwa"
Article Synopsis
- Malnutrition is a major cause of child deaths globally, with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) leading to high mortality rates, especially when compounded by infections or medical complications.
- A clinical trial conducted in Zambia and Zimbabwe evaluated four potential treatments for malnutrition-related enteropathy in 125 hospitalized children aged 6-59 months with SAM, comparing bovine colostrum, N-acetyl glucosamine, teduglutide, budesonide, and standard care over 14 days.
- Results indicated that teduglutide significantly reduced mucosal damage biomarkers, suggesting it may be a beneficial treatment for enteropathy in children with complicated malnutrition, with all interventions deemed safe.
Effect of ready-to-use supplementary food on mortality in severely immunocompromised HIV-infected individuals in Africa initiating antiretroviral therapy (REALITY): an open-label, parallel-group, randomised controlled trial.
Lancet HIV
May 2018
Background: In sub-Saharan Africa, severely immunocompromised HIV-infected individuals have a high risk of mortality during the first few months after starting antiretroviral therapy (ART). We hypothesise that universally providing ready-to-use supplementary food (RUSF) would increase early weight gain, thereby reducing early mortality compared with current guidelines recommending ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) for severely malnourished individuals only.
Methods: We did a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial, open-label, parallel-group trial at inpatient and outpatient facilities in eight urban or periurban regional hospitals in Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.
Background: Severely immunocompromised human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected individuals have high mortality shortly after starting antiretroviral therapy (ART). We investigated predictors of early mortality and "late presenter" phenotypes.
Methods: The Reduction of EArly MortaLITY (REALITY) trial enrolled ART-naive adults and children ≥5 years of age with CD4 counts <100 cells/µL initiating ART in Uganda, Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Kenya.