Study area and period
The study was conducted in the WestArsi zone shalla district health posts namely, Aje, S.shalla, Abure, Soni,Ilaala, funde, Awara,and kubi between May 1, 2017, and August 30, 2017.
The zone has an estimated total population of 2,542,569 and 529,702 households according to annual performance report of 2017 Gc [27].
According to shalla district health office report a total population of the district is 149,804, of whom 74,930 were men and 74,874 were women; 7,680 or 5.13% of its population were urban dwellers in 2017 G.c. and Children aged 6-12 month at risk of developing moderate acute malnutrition is 3318 [15]. Food products commonly produced in the district is corn, potatoes, soybean commonly used for consumption and market purpose which is not enough throughout the year. To alleviate problems related to food insecurity there is targeted and blanket food supply program in the district. There are 8 government health centers, and 39 health posts are found in shalla district from which we selected 8 health posts from eight different localities of the district.
Study design
Multi centred health post based retrospective cohort study was conducted using the data of moderate acute malnourished children aged 6-59 months which were admitted to TSFP and treated in 8 health posts in Shala district between May 1, 2017, and August 30, 2017.
The study was conducted on 201 MAM children who had been treated using dry premixed supplementary food fortified corn soy blended (CSB++) and 201 moderate acute malnourished children who have been treated using Ready to Use Supplementary Food (RUSF).and both treatment food is readily available at study area.
Source and study population
Source population
All moderate malnourished children whose age is between 6 to 59 month in Shalla district who has been screened using MUAC from community and registered to take supplementary feeding treatment under targeted supplementary feeding programme.
Study population
All moderate malnourished children whose age is between 6 to 59 month in Shalla district screened and included to TSF programme between May 1, 2017 to August 30, 2017.
Inclusion criteria and Exclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria
Eligible 6-59 month age children who were screened from community using MUAC and identified to have MAM and admitted to TSF in selected 8 health posts between May 1, 2017, and August 30, 2017.
Exclusion criteria
Children identified from the community whose date of birth is missed by the mother.
Children screened and included in TSFP in other months of the year 2017.
Sample size calculation
The sample size was calculated based on the assumption that type I error 5 %, power of the study 80 %, proportion of recovery among MAM children used RUSF was 73 % (exposed) and proportion of recovery among MAM children used CSB+ was 67 %(unexposed ) [16 ]. The sample size was calculated by using the formula Fleiss JL. 1981. pp.44-45. The minimum sample size required for each group is 122. After adding 10 % for incomplete records and multiplying with design effect 1.5 the final sample size was 402.
Sampling procedure
In the study district, there are 39 health posts. Populations living around these health posts are assumed more or less homogenous. As the result, 8 health posts was selected at random using lottery method presuming that there were no information lost with the unselected health posts.
Also the SFP protocol for management of MAM works equally to all health post level. So in total, a sampling frame of children managed for MAM from 8 health posts in the district was prepared. Samples were allotted to each health institution using the probability proportional to size sampling. Finally, the children were selected by systematic random sampling from each institution based on their unique identification number.
Sampling frame was obtained from TSFP treatment registration book which documented by health extension worker work in the health post (figure 1).
Data collection technique and procedure
Data were collected by record review and interviewing using a semi structured questionnaire (additional file 1). Questionnaire developed based on published studies and adapted to local situation with certain modifications. the questionnaire was pretested in 10% of sample size to establish its ability to elicit relevant information, and necessary corrections were made on the questionnaire following the pretesting. The questionnaire was prepared in English and translated to Afaan oromoo because information on registration book is documented using Afaan oromoo in the health posts.
Data were collected by experienced 8 diploma nurses supervised by 2 Bsc nurse and data collector and supervisor was trained on how to collect quantitative and qualitative data.
The questionnaire included information on, individual factors affecting recovery time, health care related factor affecting recovery time collected by record review from selected health post, and family related factor affecting recovery time, Environmental related factor affecting recovery time data was collected by interviewing the MAM child family care giver. Data collection was completed in 10 days from January 1-10, 2018.
Data quality assurance
Both the data collectors and the supervisor were given 1 days training regarding the objective content of the study to capacitate the skill of data collection methods.
As part of the training, the data collection tool was pretested at shalla district before the actual data collection is done to maintain data quality.
Completed questionnaires was collected on daily basis and checked for completeness and consistency by immediate supervisors. Data Cleaning was done on daily basis and timely feedback was communicated to the data collectors.
Incorrectly filled or miss ones was back to the respective data collectors for correction.
The principal investigator was supervised five percept of the secondary data collection and confirmed the data are correctly collected from the beneficiary registration and their care takers.
Ten percept of the data was re-entered in order to compare and assure the quality of the data.
Study variables
Dependent variable
Time to recovery of moderate acute malnutrition treatment.
Independent variable
Individual factor: care taker age, sex, place of residence, Admission weight, MUAC,WFH Z score category
Family factor: Educational status, Occupation and marital status of care giver, House hold food insecurity, inadequate care and feeding, Family income ,Child feeding practice .
Environmental factor: Drinking Water source, Safe solid disposal/stool disposal, un healthy household environment.
Health care related factor: Treatment foods, Follow up status, Health education topic covered by HEW, Food sharing, cooking demonstration conducted
Operational definition
Censored data (unobserved outcome): time-to-event is not observed.
Subjects are said to be censored if they are lost to follow up or drop out of the study, if the study ends before they recover or have an outcome of interest[3].
Defaulter: Child absent from the program for three consecutive visits and confirmed[5].
Intermittent follow up: Lost the TSFP program at least once during treatment period [25].
Non response: (Failure to respond to treatment) where child fails to reach the discharge criteria over a period of four months[25].
Overcrowded condition: Is a condition occurring when Person/room is greater than 2 person per 1room, 3person per 2 rooms, 5person person 3 rooms.
Recovered: Children reach the target weight gain of 13% from admission weight and MUAC ≥ 12.5 cm or > -2 z-score period of two consecutive distributions[5] .
Targeted Supplementary Feeding programme: Is the program which aims to rehabilitate children under five years old as well as pregnant and lactating women (PLW) identified as moderate acute malnutrition.
Time of recovery: Acceptable to stay the program with in less than or equal to sixteen weeks [5].
Transport access: Easy to reach desired distinction by means of a specific transport system.
Super cereal (CSB++): (Corn Soy Blend) a pre-mixed fortified blended food which contains Energy/Nutrient/100g, 787kcal, 33g protein and 20g fat.
Data processing and analysis
After the data were checked for its consistency and completeness, it was entered to EPI-INFO version 7.0 then exported to SPSS version 20 for cleaning and analysis.
Summary statistics like frequencies, proportion were carried out to describe the socio-demographics data and other characteristics. Proportional of hazard rate is calculated to measure the association and the probability of time to recovery among MAM children during the specified period. Kaplan– Meier product limit, life table analysis and log rank test were used to estimate the time to recovery and the cumulative proportion surviving in agiven interval, and compare the survival curves, respectively. Cox proportional hazard regression was used to identify predictors of time to recovery.
Bivariate cox regression analysis was carried out, and independent variables with p-values of ≤0.25 were included in multivariate cox regression analysis.
Prior to the multivariate analysis, multicollinearity diagnostics was performed, and there were no significant interactions between independent variables and some of highly correlated independent variable was removed.
Adjusted Hazard rate (AHR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) was used as an effect measure. A p-value of equal or less than 0.05 was considered as significant.
Ethical clearance
Ethical clearance was obtained from Institutional Review Board of Hawassa University College of Medicine and health Sciences. Official letters was taken from west Arsi zone Health department prevention control office, and consent was taken from individual care giver participated in the study.
Data dissemination
The final report was presented to Hawassa University College of Medicine and health Sciences. Copies were provided to west Arsi zone health office. It will be disseminated through publication of the findings, in peer reviewed reputable journal and presentations on scientific conferences.