Cost-effectiveness of a wetting method intervention to reduce cassava cyanide-related cognitive impairment in children

Chen Chen; Espérance Kashala-Abotnes; Jean-Pierre Banea Mayambu; Dieudonne Mumba Ngoyi; Désiré Tshala-Katumbay; Daniel Mukeba; Marcel Kunyu; Michael J Boivin; Felicia Wu

doi:10.1038/s43016-021-00321-w

Cost-effectiveness of a wetting method intervention to reduce cassava cyanide-related cognitive impairment in children

Nat Food. 2021 Jul;2(7):469-472. doi: 10.1038/s43016-021-00321-w. Epub 2021 Jul 21.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Food Science & Human Nutrition, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
² Centre for International Health, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
³ National Nutrition Program, Ministry of Health, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
⁴ Department of Tropical Medicine, University of Kinshasa, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
⁵ Department of Neurology, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA.
⁶ Department of Neurology, University of Kinshasa, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
⁷ Department of Psychiatry and Department of Neurology & Ophthalmology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
⁸ Department of Food Science & Human Nutrition, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA. [email protected].
⁹ Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA. [email protected].

PMID: 37117687
DOI: 10.1038/s43016-021-00321-w

Abstract

Cassava cyanide-related neurocognitive impairment may persist for years in Central African children who rely on cassava as a dietary staple. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a cassava processing method, the 'wetting method', reduced cyanide in cassava, prevented konzo, and proved a cost-effective intervention to improve children's cognitive development. Scaling up use of the wetting method may help prevent neurocognitive impairment in millions of at-risk children in sub-Saharan Africa.

Abstract

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