Follow-up care for moderate acute malnutrition

If a child was classified with moderate acute malnutrition and referred to a supplementary feeding centre, or the mother has been given counselling to help her improve feeding and care of her child, she should be advised to return for a follow-up visit after 30 days. If there was a feeding problem as judged by the feeding recommendations in your chart booklet, the mother should be advised to return with the child earlier than 30 days.

You may have specially scheduled sessions for nutritional counselling, and mothers with a malnourished child can be asked to come for a follow-up visit at this time. A special session allows you to devote the necessary time to discuss feeding with several mothers and perhaps demonstrate some good foods for young children.

When the mother attends your health post for a follow-up visit after 30 days for a child with moderate acute malnutrition, you should take the steps set out in Box 8.4. As you read above, you should praise the mother and encourage her to continue good home care for her child. This will ensure that she feels supported by you.

Box 8.5 below sets out the steps you need to follow to assess the child’s feeding. It will help you judge what advice and support you can give the mother or caregiver of the child.