Defaulter Access Study
The Defaulter and Access Study, which is funded by OFDA and came out of a retrospective study of emergency supplementary feeding programmes by ENN and SCUK (2006), is currently in the data analysis phase following data collection in three country sites; Kenya, Sudan and Chad throughout 2010. Data collection involved the implementation of two questionnaires (baseline and extraordinary events) which were developed in pilot studies conducted in ACF supplementary feeding programmes in Ethiopia and Mali during 2009.
The study aims to improve the design of programmes working to reduce acute malnutrition in emergencies by adapting them to the constraints of potential beneficiaries.
The objectives of the study are:
• To describe the baseline and nutritional characteristics of beneficiaries likely to default from emergency supplementary feeding programmes.
• To understand the determinants of defaulting from SFPs in a variety of emergency settings.
• To compare the determinants of defaulting between different emergency settings.
• To translate observations into strategy and policy recommendations to adapt nutrition programming in emergencies.
• To develop field tools to understand defaulting in particular settings and respond with appropriate programme adaptations.
The subjects of this study are children between 6 to 59 months admitted to SFPs. This study intends to capture:
• Frequency and baseline characteristics of patients who default (socio-demographic, nutrition status, evolution under treatment).
• Unexpected events that trigger defaulting through change in family priorities (i.e. determinants that can only be collected post-hoc – once the event has happened).
• Reasons for non-attendance of malnourished children to SFP (i.e. malnourished children who never enrol in an SFP).
Analysis at each study site involves different categories of defaulting groups as follows: early defaulting (first two weeks), defaulting after weight gain, and defaulting after weight loss or no-weight gain. Secondary analysis will involve non-statistical comparisons of the results obtained in each study site, with the aim of identifying context specific results and those which are common to all programmes.
It is hoped that preliminary analysis of data from all three study sites will be completed by the end of November 2011 and that more in-depth analysis will be completed by February 2012. For further details, contact Jeremy Shoham, jshoham@easynet.co.uk
