https://doi.org/10.17037/DATA.00001882
Child wasting (low weight for height) affects approximately 49.5 million children under five years globally. The aim of the Child Health Research Initiative (CHNRI) prioritisation exercise was to identify and prioritise key outstanding research questions that would enable child wasting to be treated more effectively and at greater scale. The work was performed on behalf of 'No Wasted Lives'.
This quantitative dataset contains responses of 313 participants to a survey questionnaire on approaches to acute malnutrition treatment. Data available on request (with appropriate data sharing agreement) from No Wasted Lives, Action Against Hunger authors named as contacts.
| Variable label | Variable description | Variable coding |
| Participant | Participant unique ID | Numeric |
| Region | Participant's geographic region | Global, Autre, Afrique Centrale, Afrique de l'Oest, Central Africa, West Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, East Asia, South Asia, Latin;America, Other |
| Work type | Participant's type of work | Academic, Government, Operational/Programme, Policy, Other |
The survey questionnaire contained 53 questions, each of which equated to a research area. Participants assessed each research area using four criteria: (1) likelihood of impact, (2) effectiveness/deliverability, (3) answerability, and (4) sustainability.
Answer variables can be interpreted as follows: null = no response given; 0 = no; 0.5 = informed but undecided; 1 = yes.
| Question no. | Question text | Variable label |
| 1 | What are the most effective tools to diagnose acute malnutrition by community members, including community health workers and caretakers? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 2 | What are effective therapeutic feeding approaches for the management of severe acute malnutrition in children who are 6-59 months of age with diarhoea? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 3 | What are effective and safe strategies and protocols to support the scale-up of treatment of acute malnutrition in infants <6 months of age? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 4 | What are the causal factors of relapse after treatment of acute malnutrition and how can they be minimized? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 5 | What is the relationship between the nutrition and health of mothers and acute malnutrition in their children and how can interventions within and beyond the 1,000 day window reduce the risk of acute malnutrition? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 6 | What are the optimum entry and discharge criteria for treatment of acute malnutrition to ensure optimum outcomes? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 7 | What is the impact infant and young child feeding practices (IYCF) in addition to the standard treatment of acute malnutrition and how do treatment programs impact individual and community IYCF practices? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 8 | How effective are tools for community-based detection and improving treatment-seeking behaviour across different geographies and contexts? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 9 | Are there safe alternative formulations of RUTF for the treatment of uncomplicated severe acute malnutrition in children that use locally available ingredients and improve the cost-effectiveness of treatment? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 10 | What are effective interventions and operational models to reduce mortality risk after treatment? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 11 | Should inclusion of vitamin A supplementation in the treatment of children with uncomplicated severe acute malnutrition be standard practice and should recommendations vary according to contexts? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 12 | What is the most cost-effective and safe dosage of the standard RUTF for the treatment of uncomplicated severe acute malnutrition in children 6-59 months of age? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 13 | What are effective operational models to integrate treatment of acute malnutrition into standard health budgets, platforms and services? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 14 | Where acute malnutrition deteriorates from moderate to severe forms, why does this happen and how and can this be prevented? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 15 | How can perceptions of the community and caretakers about malnutrition and treatment seeking behaviour be improved? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 16 | Are there alternative, cost-effective formulations of therapeutic food to treat moderate acute malnutrition in children 6-59 months of age? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 17 | What are cost-effective methods to regularly estimate the coverage of treatment programs for moderate acute malnutrition or severe acute malnutrition ? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 18 | What are effective interventions and operational models to reduce relapse, mortality and morbidity risk after treatment and how does this vary across geography and context? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 19 | What innovative approaches can be used to generate more accurate estimates of annual burden of acute malnutrition and caseload estimation? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 20 | What are impact modelling approaches to estimate morbidity, mortality, and lives saved from treatment/prevention of acute malnutrition and ultimately support cost-benefit analysis of different treatment options? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 21 | What are effective therapeutic feeding approaches for the management of severe acute malnutrition in children who are 6-59 months of age to manage the transition from inpatient to outpatient treatment? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 22 | What are the most effective approaches for the management of children 6-59 months of age with severe acute malnutrition and chronic infections, including HIV? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 23 | What are the effective operational models to improve demand generation and coverage across contexts? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 24 | How can we improve the fluid management of children with severe acute malnutrition? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 25 | What are successful operational models to strengthen surge capacity of the health system for the delivery of treatment of acute malnutrition? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 26 | What is the effectiveness of targeted antibiotics for in-patient treatment and the treatment of severe acute malnutrition with complications? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 27 | What are the optimum supply chain and delivery models for RUTF across geographies and contexts, including urban and emergencies? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 28 | What are the most accurate and appropriate criteria and approaches for the diagnosis of acute malnutrition across geographies, contexts, age-groups and risk groups? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 29 | How does morbidity and mortality risk in children with acute malnutrition vary across age groups? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 30 | Should inclusion of routine antibiotics in the treatment of children with uncomplicated severe acute malnutrition be standard practice and should recommendations vary according to contexts? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 31 | How does morbidity and mortality risk vary across different anthropometric measurements for children with acute malnutrition? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 32 | Are there alternative therapeutic products and foods other than RUTF that are safe, effective and cost-effective for the treatment of uncomplicated severe acute malnutrition in children 6-59 months of age? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 33 | What is the burden of children who are both wasted and stunted? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 34 | What is the impact of severe acute malnutrition and its treatment on acquired immune status and what is the potential to combine treatment with vaccinations? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 35 | What are the underlying enteric risk factors of acute malnutrition? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 36 | How does morbidity and mortality risk in children with acute malnutrition vary across geographies (from regional, to country and local level)? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 37 | What is the relationship between acute and chronic malnutrition and how can interventions be designed to address both effectively? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 38 | What are the underlying causes of non-response during treatment across geographies, contexts and how can treatment be tailored to address this? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 39 | What is the correlation between severity of oedema in children and treatment outcomes in both inpatient and outpatient treatment models? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 40 | Are lipid-based nutritional supplements (LNS) safe, effective and cost-effective for the treatment of uncomplicated severe acute malnutrition in children 6-59 months of age? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 41 | What is the impact of social protection/cash transfers in addition to the standard treatment of acute malnutrition? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 42 | How do underlying risk factors for acute malnutrition vary across different geographies, contexts, age groups, gender, etc? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 43 | What is the impact of acute malnutrition on cognitive development? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 44 | How do the underlying risk factors of acute and chronic malnutrition differ? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 45 | How does wasting (including severity, duration, or repeated episodes of wasting) increase risk of becoming stunted? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 46 | What are the biggest issues around unintended use of RUTF (sharing, selling, etc) across geographies and contexts and how can these be mitigated? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 47 | What are the morbidity outcomes of acute malnutrition in children left untreated and how does background morbidity, including underlying chronic infections, affect mortality risk? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 48 | Can all forms of uncomplicated acute malnutrition in children 6-59 months of age be treated with a single protocol and product? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 49 | Can all forms of uncomplicated acute malnutrition in children 6-59 months of age be treated with a single protocol and product? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 50 | What are the underlying non-enteric risk factors for acute malnutrition across contexts? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 51 | How can morphology and body composition profiles be used to improve diagnosis and understanding of acute malnutrition across geographies? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 52 | What are the long-term impacts on body composition (including risk of overweight, metabolic syndrome and chronic diseases) and morbidity following treatment of severe acute malnutrition with therapeutic products? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable | ||
| 53 | Is body composition a good predictor of increased mortality risk and can it be used for identification? | Impact |
| Effective/Deliverable | ||
| Answerable | ||
| Sustainable |