Intrahousehold management and use of nutritional supplements during the hunger gap in Maradi region, Niger: a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Nutritional supplements are used for preventing and treating childhood malnutrition. While there is a growing body of evidence on product efficacy, less emphasis has been placed on how they are perceived and used at the household level. Here, we report on the intrahousehold management of three different supplements (Ready to Use Supplementary food (RUSF), medium quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements (LNS-MQ) and Super Cereal Plus (SC+)) in the region of Maradi (Niger). The main objective of this study was to describe the use, consumption and perception of the three different nutritional products at the household level. METHODS: The study was conducted in the Madarounfa district in the region of Maradi (February - March 2012). Female caregivers were purposely selected from eligible households and invited to participate. Data were collected through focus group discussion and interviews and were analyzed using thematic content analysis. RESULTS: In total, 114 caregivers participated. Three major themes were initially identified and included preparation and conservation; consumption and sharing practices as well as perception of impact. The data showed good acceptance at the household level including perceived benefits for the target children, health improvement, prevention of illness and malnutrition. Sharing and gifting at both household and community level were also reported. CONCLUSIONS: Caregivers displayed positive perceptions toward the investigated supplements. Patterns of actual management should be considered in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of future programs.

Molecular markers of resistance to amodiaquine plus sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine in an area with seasonal malaria chemoprevention in south central Niger.

BACKGROUND: In Niger, malaria transmission is markedly seasonal with most of the disease burden occurring in children during the rainy season. Seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) with amodiaquine plus sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (AQ + SP) is recommended in the country to be administered monthly just before and during the rainy season. Moreover, clinical decisions on use of SP for intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy (IPTp) now depend upon the validated molecular markers for SP resistance in Plasmodium falciparum observed in the local parasite population. However, little is known about molecular markers of resistance for either SP or AQ in the south of Niger. To address this question, clinical samples which met clinical and biological criteria, were collected in Gabi, Madarounfa district, Maradi region, Niger in 2011-2012 (before SMC implementation). Molecular markers of resistance to pyrimethamine (pfdhfr), sulfadoxine (pfdhps) and amodiaquine (pfmdr1) were assessed by DNA sequencing. RESULTS: Prior to SMC implementation, the samples showed a high proportion of clinical samples that carried the pfdhfr 51I/59R/108N haplotype associated with resistance to pyrimethamine and pfdhps 436A/F/H and 437G mutations associated with reduced susceptibility to sulfadoxine. In contrast mutations in codons 581G, and 613S in the pfdhps gene, and in pfmdr1, 86Y, 184Y, 1042D and 1246Y associated with resistance to amodiaquine, were less frequently observed. Importantly, pfdhfr I164L and pfdhps K540E mutations shown to be the most clinically relevant markers for high level clinical resistance to SP were not detected in Gabi. CONCLUSIONS: Although parasites with genotypes associated with the highest levels of resistance to AQ + SP are not yet common in this setting, their importance for deployment of SMC and IPTp dictates that monitoring of these markers of resistance should accompany these interventions. This study also highlights the parasite heterogeneity within a small spatial area and the need to use caution when extrapolating results from surveys of molecular markers of resistance in a single site to inform regional policy decisions.

Efficacy of artesunate-amodiaquine, dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine and artemether-lumefantrine for the treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Maradi, Niger.

BACKGROUND: Malaria endemic countries need to assess efficacy of anti-malarial treatments on a regular basis. Moreover, resistance to artemisinin that is established across mainland South-East Asia represents today a major threat to global health. Monitoring the efficacy of artemisinin-based combination therapies is of paramount importance to detect as early as possible the emergence of resistance in African countries that toll the highest burden of malaria morbidity and mortality. METHODS: A WHO standard protocol was used to assess efficacy of the combinations artesunate-amodiaquine (AS-AQ Winthrop®), dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DHA-PPQ, Eurartesim®) and artemether-lumefantrine (AM-LM, Coartem®) taken under supervision and respecting pharmaceutical recommendations. The study enrolled for each treatment arm 212 children aged 6-59 months living in Maradi (Niger) and suffering with uncomplicated falciparum malaria. The Kaplan-Meier 42-day PCR-adjusted cure rate was the primary outcome. A standardized parasite clearance estimator was used to assess delayed parasite clearance as surrogate maker of suspected artemisinin resistance. RESULTS: No early treatment failures were found in any of the study treatment arms. The day-42 PCR-adjusted cure rate estimates were 99.5, 98.4 and 99.0% in the AS-AQ, DHA-PPQ and AM-LM arms, respectively. The reinfection rate (expressed also as Kaplan-Meier estimates) was higher in the AM-LM arm (32.4%) than in the AS-AQ (13.8%) and the DHA-PPQ arm (24.9%). The parasite clearance rate constant was 0.27, 0.26 and 0.25 per hour for AS-AQ, DHA-PPQ and AM-LM, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: All the three treatments evaluated largely meet WHO criteria (at least 95% efficacy). AS-AQ and AL-LM may continue to be used and DHA-PPQ may be also recommended as first-line treatment for uncomplicated falciparum malaria in Maradi. The parasite clearance rate were consistent with reference values indicating no suspected artemisinin resistance. Nevertheless, the monitoring of anti-malarial drug efficacy should continue. Trial registration details Registry number at ClinicalTrial.gov: NCT01755559.

Effect of ready-to-use foods for preventing child undernutrition in Niger: analysis of a prospective intervention study over 15 months of follow-up.

Strategies for preventing undernutrition comprise a range of interventions, including education, provision of complementary food and cash transfer. Here, we compared monthly distributions of two different lipid-based nutrient supplements (LNS), large-quantity LNS (LNS-LQ) and medium-quantity LNS (LNS-MQ) for 15 months on prevention of undernutrition among children 6 to 23 months. Both groups also received cash transfer for the first 5 months of the intervention. We conducted a prospective intervention study in Maradi, Niger, between August 2011 and October 2012. Six and 11 villages were randomly allocated to LNS-LQ/Cash and LNS-MQ/Cash, respectively. Children measuring 60-80 cm were enrolled in the respective groups and followed up monthly. Poisson regression was used to assess differences between interventions and adjust for baseline characteristics, intervention periods and child-feeding practices. The analysis included 2586 children (1081 in the LNS-LQ/Cash group and 1505 in the LNS-MQ/Cash group). This study suggests that provision of LNS-LQ (reference) or LNS-MQ had, overall, similar effect on incidence of severe acute malnutrition (RR = 0.97; 95% CI: 0.67-1.40; P = 0.88), moderate acute malnutrition (RR = 1.20; 95% CI: 0.97-1.48; P = 0.08), severe stunting (RR = 0.94; 95% CI: 0.70-1.26; P = 0.69), moderate stunting (RR = 0.95; 95% CI: 0.76-1.19; P = 0.67) and mortality (RR = 0.83; 95% CI: 0.41-1.65; P = 0.59). Compared with LNS-LQ, LNS-MQ showed a greater protective effect on moderate acute malnutrition among children with good dietary adequacy: RR = 0.72; 95% CI: 0.56-0.94; P = 0.01. These results highlight the need to design context-specific programmes. Provision of LNS-LQ might be more appropriate when food insecurity is high, while when food security is better, distribution of LNS-MQ might be more appropriate.

Preventive Effects of Long-Term Supplementation with 2 Nutritious Food Supplements in Young Children in Niger.

BACKGROUND: In nutritional crises, large-scale preventive distributions of specialized nutritious foods are recommended to prevent acute and chronic malnutrition in young children. Among the available specialized nutritious foods, the World Food Programme and UNICEF recommend lipid-based nutrient supplements (LNSs) and Super Cereal Plus (SC+). Although the effectiveness of short-term distributions for prevention of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) is well documented, evidence for long-term strategies and the role of distribution of specialized nutritious foods for prevention of stunting is weaker. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to compare long-term supplementation of LNSs and SC+ on the incidence of acute malnutrition and stunting in young children. METHODS: We conducted two 15-mo-long supplementation interventions with the use of LNSs (500 kcal/d) and SC+ (810 kcal/d) and half rations during 5 mo of the nonlean season, for the prevention of acute malnutrition and stunting in children aged 6-23 mo. The study was designed as a prospective cohort in 11 villages in Madarounfa, Niger. We compared the incidence of acute malnutrition and stunting with the use of Cox proportional hazards models and report on sharing and use of these food supplements. RESULTS: Characteristics of children at baseline were similar across groups. A total of 1967 children were included in the analysis (845 in the SC+ group and 1122 in the LNS group). No significant differences in the incidence of moderate acute malnutrition (SC+ compared with LNS: adjusted HR: 0.79; 95% CI: 0.61, 1.02) or SAM (HR: 0.84; 95% CI: 0.52, 1.34) were found. No difference in the incidence of stunting (HR: 1.08; 95% CI: 0.95, 1.24) or severe stunting (HR: 0.94; 95% CI: 0.71, 1.22) over the follow-up period were found. CONCLUSIONS: These findings in young children in Niger suggest that both products should be considered when planning preventive distributions and choice of long-term supplementation should be guided by context-specific factors such as acceptability, cost, and operational feasibility, among others. Additional research is essential to improving child health. The study was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01828814.