BRIGHTSAM
Brain Development, Growth and Health in Children with Severe Acute Malnutrition
A cluster-randomised clinical trial in Mwanza Region, Tanzania, evaluating whether enriched nutrition and psychosocial stimulation can improve brain development in children treated for severe acute malnutrition.
Severe Acute Malnutrition and Its Impact on Children’s Growth and Development
Early childhood is a critical period for brain development, growth, and lifelong health. When children experience severe acute malnutrition (SAM) during this vulnerable stage, the consequences can extend far beyond childhood, affecting cognitive development, educational achievement, productivity, and future economic opportunities. The impact is felt not only by individual children and their families, but also by the communities and societies in which they live.
BRIGHT-SAM was designed to address a fundamental question:
Can the health, growth, and developmental outcomes of children with severe acute malnutrition be improved through optimized nutritional treatment and integrated psychosocial support?
By generating high quality evidence, BRIGHT-SAM aims to inform policies and treatment approaches that help children with SAM survive, recover, and reach their full potential.
The BRIGHTSAM project is a collaborative research initiative implemented by the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), Tanzania, Rigshospitalet, the University of Copenhagen, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and other collaborating partners. The project generates evidence on whether the health and development of children with severe acute malnutrition can be improved through optimized nutrition and integrated psychosocial support.
BRIGHTSAM is a cluster-randomised, 2x2 factorial trial evaluating the effect of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)- and choline-enriched ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) and an integrated psychosocial stimulation programme on child development in children with severe acute malnutrition in Tanzania.
BRIGHTSAM by the numbers
An invisible second challenge
Children who survive severe acute malnutrition often face an invisible second challenge: delays in cognitive, motor, language, and psycho-emotional development that can affect them for life. BRIGHTSAM tests two complementary interventions, an enhanced therapeutic food and structured psychosocial stimulation, alone and combined, to find out whether we can change that outcome.