Outcome of Nutritional Rehabilitation Centre based care for children with Severe Acute Malnutrition in Uttar Pradesh, India: Cross sectional Study

Background and aim: Nutritional Rehabilitation Centres (NRCs) have been established for the facility-based management of children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM). The present study was conducted in two such centres in Uttar Pradesh, India to understand the epidemiological and clinical profile of admitted children and their outcome of treatment. Materials and methods: A facility based cross-sectional study was conducted in the Nutritional Rehabilitation centres at Lucknow and Barabanki district hospitals. All Children aged one to fifty-nine months admitted to these centres from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019 were included in the study. Results: Around 28% infants diagnosed with SAM were less than 6 months of age. Majority (64.9%) of the admitted children were discharged with more than 15% of weight at admission, 28.9% were non-responders, 6.2% were defaulters and there were no deaths during the study period. Referrals directly from the community were seen in only 25.8% cases. Conclusion: Considering that around one-fourth of the children were discharged without adequate weight gain, measures to promote follow up should be given more focus. Referral from community level should be strengthened and more attention should be given for prevention of malnutrition in infants less than 6 months.