Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM)

 

WHAT IS CMAM?

Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) is the internationally agreed upon standard for treating children with acute malnutrition. CNP/Kore Timoun works with the Haitian Ministry of Health (MSPP) to facilitate this program.

HOW DOES CMAM WORK?

CNP/Kore Timoun monitrices work with their communities to make sure they understand the causes of malnutrition, how to prevent it and how to identify when a child might be suffering from the condition. Monitrices regularly screen all the children under five years old to determine if they are meeting their developmental goals using anthropometric measurements, such as weight, height, and mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC). Children that are found to be undernourished are then referred for treatment, and enter into one of three treatment programs, depending on the severity of their malnutrition.

  • Severe Acute Malnutrition with Medical Complications (SAM)

Children found with SAM with medical complications, such as lack of appetite, dehydration, anemia, vomiting, etc. are at high risk of death and require in-patient treatment and careful monitoring until they can be stabilized. CNP/Kore Timoun collaborates with a Haitian government run Nutritional Stabilization Unit in Petit Goave, located around 40 minutes by car from CNP/Kore Timoun’s headquarters in Léogâne. Children usually stay in the stabilization center for 5 to 7 days before being referred to CNP/Kore Timoun’s outpatient programs.

  • Severe Acute Malnutrition without Medical Complications (SAM) 

Children under five years of age identified to have SAM without medical complications are referred to one of our outpatient clinics, where they enter into the outpatient therapeutic program. The Outpatient Therapeutic Program has been designed to support the at-home treatment of children. Children and their caregiver come into the clinic for a weekly appointment where they are given a weekly ration of ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) and the child’s progress is monitored along with health education. 

CNP/Kore Timoun operates 15 outpatient clinics, run by community nurses and monitrices. One of these clinics is a permanent clinic located in urban Léogâne. The other 14 clinics are ‘mobile’ clinics; temporary clinics set up on a weekly basis throughout the mountains and plains of Léogâne, designed to provide children living in remote areas with rehabilitative care.

  • Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM)

Children under five years of age and pregnant or lactating mothers with moderate acute malnutrition are referred to CNP/Kore Timoun's Supplementary Feeding Program. The Supplementary Feeding Program is designed to prevent severe acute malnutrition in an outpatient setting. Children and women in this program visit the clinic every other week to monitor their progress, receive health education, and receive RUTF to supplement their diet to help them meet their caloric and nutritional needs.