Chemical Water Quality & Malnourished Child Health

Concerns about chemical water quality in intensive therapeutic feeding centres (ITFCs) have persisted among humanitarian fieldworkers for a decade, yet there are no established guidelines for the chemical makeup of water added to the therapeutic feeding and rehydration products used to treat children with severe acute malnutrition.

This research seeks knowledge synthesis toward evidence-based provisional chemical water quality guidelines for ITFCs and field management strategies.

The project:
1. Establishes guidelines for maximum allowable concentrations of key chemical water quality parameters in ITFCs.
2. Identifies potential technical approaches and innovations for improving chemical water quality in humanitarian field settings.
3. Identifies knowledge gaps and priorities for further R&D in order to catalyze new collaborative work in this space.

Research Outputs:

1. Technical Backgrounder-Basic Geochemical Water Quality Sampling and Testing – by Matt Arnold
2. Guidance for Mineral & Electrolyte Concentrations in Water Used in Inpatient Therapeutic Feeding Centers – Poster presentation from the 2019 Action contre le Faim Research for Nutrition (ACF R4NUT)
3. Water Treatment Options for Ion and Mineral Removal – by Matt Arnold

With Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders.

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