Kwashiorkor

The problem

Sadly, malnutrition is still common in infants in many parts of the world. Severely affected children become very skinny, but with a swollen ‘pot’ belly (think of the pictures from Live Aid). This is called kwashiorkor, and happens because their bodies cannot deal with fluids properly. Infants with kwashiorkor are very vulnerable – if they catch a diarrhoea bug they quickly develop shock.

The treatment for these children has not changed for 40 years, and half of those who become shocked still die, even in good hospitals that follow the World Health Organisation (WHO) treatment guidelines. Every year, thousands of babies die from this in Africa.

A Eureka moment

When Malcolm was teaching with Unni in Uganda, he suddenly realised that some of our ideas about the cause and treatment for kwashiorkor and shock have been wrong. He re-analysed the data from medical studies that had been published back in the 1980s, and found that they had been misinterpreted. He then worked out a better way of treating these babies, by using an albumin (protein) drip. He has shared these ideas with doctors world-wide by publishing them in the International Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health.

Studies in Ghana

This is why we set about fund-raising, to fund a scientific study of the effects of treating children with kwashiorkor+shock in Africa with albumin instead of just using the simple WHO fluids, to see if it was better at saving their lives. We are very optimistic that using albumin will dramatically help

We are delighted to announce that the paediatric departments in two teaching hospitals in Ghana, at Kumasi and Tamale, have joined the programme.

The medical details

We have provided further details of the medical arguments which support our case for using IV albumin treatment, for those interested.