Simplified approaches to the treatment of wasting. Technical Brief.

This Technical Brief describes simplified approaches to wasting treatment which aim is to achieve greater coverage and improved efficiency of services while maintaining quality of care. Simplified approaches have emerged in response to limitations in the current model of care include high costs, issues of access to treatment services for both severely and moderately wasted cases, parallel supply chains for different therapeutic food products, and treatment protocols that are managed by different agencies and are overly complex for integration into routine health systems. Practitioners and experts have recognised the need to simplify approaches to wasting treatment through the use of a range adaptions which streamline how treatment of medically uncomplicated wasting is delivered. These adaptations are described in this technical brief as well as where and how simplified approaches are being used and the current evidence for their effectiveness.

This is a dynamic and evolving area of operational research and programme innovation. It has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, for which programming adaptations to simplify treatment delivery have become critical when the normal ways of delivering services have been compromised.