Taimaka
Taimaka treats children with acute malnutrition out of government healthcare facilities in Gombe State, Nigeria. They’ve developed a treatment model that is cheaper than legacy approaches and simpler, so that digitally-enabled community health workers (CHWs) can deliver care directly to the most vulnerable communities.
Acute malnutrition is a leading cause of childhood deaths globally. Taimaka has redesigned malnutrition treatment so that it can save more lives. Their model drops the average cost per child treated to less than $100. They do it by working through community health workers – rather than doctors and nurses – and leveraging cutting-edge public health research. They equip their CHWs with a digital tool to triage children, ensuring world-class quality of care.
Vision
Cost-effective impact working on the worst form of hunger - acute childhood malnutrition.
Mission
To do the most good per dollar possible.
Values
Cost-effectiveness, impact, scalability, innovation.
How does Taimaka work?
Over 20 years ago, public health experts developed an effective model for treating childhood malnutrition. The problem is – it’s far too expensive. These options rely on nurses and doctors who are often located in facilities far from the communities who need them most.
Taimaka treats children as close to their communities as possible, with community mobilizers screening for cases. Then, community health workers treat uncomplicated cases, while doctors and nurses treat complicated cases. Children are discharged when clinically healthy.
Taimaka was founded on a simple commitment – to do the most they could with every dollar they spent. Today, they have 100+ employees, reach thousands of children with acute malnutrition in Gombe state, and innovate to help millions more.
Taimaka by the numbers
$87.21
our estimate of the cost to treat one child with malnutrition
5.43 WELLBYS
our estimated impact of intervention per person
$15
estimated cost to create 1 WELLBY
4,990
people treated in 2024
You can learn more about WELLBYs here.
Why do we recommend Taimaka?
To assess Taimaka we used three sources of evidence on the effects of childhood malnutrition on adult outcomes: an RCT on the long-term effect protein-supplementation (Atole), a meta-analysis of SQ-LNS trials, and natural-experiment studies on famine exposure. We then combined our estimates with the evidence from Taimaka’s own programme. Although this was a shallow review, it is currently the deepest wellbeing-focused assessment of malnutrition treatments we are aware of. We rate Taimaka as a promising charity because CMAM appears substantially life-improving and cost-effective, even under conservative assumptions. Our central estimate is that Taimaka produces around 68 WELLBYs per $1,000 donated. You can find the full (~45 page) report here.
