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August 14, 2026BMC Public HealthOpen Access

Mid-upper arm circumference z-score tapes for childhood malnutrition screening: an implementation study from rural Kenya

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Authors

DBDominic BassahPublic Health InstituteEMEmilie E. McClinticPublic Health InstituteASAmy R. SharnRoss Laboratories (United States)

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Implication

Randomized trial shows high community health volunteer uptake of mid-upper arm circumference z-score tapes in young children, indicating feasibility for rural malnutrition screening.

Key Points

  • Evaluate the implementation feasibility, volunteer adoption, and longitudinal screening outcomes of age-specific mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) z-score tapes in community settings.
  • Conducted as an implementation evaluation within the ALIMUS cluster-randomized controlled trial (DRKS00019076) in Siaya County, Kenya.
  • Trained 15 community health volunteers to screen 575 children under 5 years of age (mean age: 15 months) using MUAC z-score tapes across 4 home visits over 1 year at 2–3 month intervals.
  • At least 85% (488/575) of enrolled children were successfully screened with MUAC z-score tapes during each of the 4 screening rounds.
  • The overall proportion of children at risk of malnutrition declined from 18.2% in round 1 to 14.1% in round 4, with normal nutritional status increasing from 82% to 86%.
  • Among the 451 children who completed all 4 screenings, 12% improved their nutritional status and 7% experienced nutritional deterioration.

Cite This Study

Bassah et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a7ec754b70b84ec8b9138edhttps://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-026-28857-1
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Also Consider

Synapse has enriched 3 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context:

  1. 1Using mid-upper arm circumference z-score measurement to support youth malnutrition screening as part of a global sports and wellness program and improve access to nutrition care2024 · 6 citations
  2. 2Using Mid-Upper Arm Circumference z-score (MUACz) tapes for community-based assessment and monitoring of nutrition risks among young children: a qualitative analysis of experiences and lessons from southwest Kenya2026 · 2 citations
  3. 3Mid-Upper Arm Circumference Based Nutrition Programming: Evidence for a New Approach in Regions with High Burden of Acute Malnutrition2012 · 119 citations