Delivering life-saving RUTF treatment to children with severe acute malnutrition in Gombe State, Nigeria.
We partnered with Taimaka on a two-year grant to expand its treatment of severe acute malnutrition among children in Gombe State, Nigeria.
Grant Description
Severe acute malnutrition is a leading cause of death among children under five, yet effective treatment remains out of reach for many families. In Gombe State, Nigeria, an estimated 170,000 children experience severe acute malnutrition each year, and more than 95% receive no care.
Taimaka identifies cases of severe acute malnutrition through community-based screening, then treats children with Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) at outpatient treatment centers co-located in government health facilities; children with severe complications are referred to inpatient centers, also embedded in government hospitals, for round-the-clock care. This grant funds a marginal expansion of Taimaka's program, seeking to treat 15,000 additional children in Gombe State in 2026 and 2027, building on a multi-year program that has already treated more than 10,000 children in the state.
This grant was selected in part because of the strength of the evidence base for Taimaka's Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) model and the demonstrated cost-effectiveness of treatment relative to other NGO-led programs in northeastern Nigeria.
CMAM is endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Food Programme (WFP), and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and has been studied through more than 20 years of observational and randomized research. Taimaka's internal data estimates recovery rates above 80%, exceeding the global standard of 75%.