We are looking for: A CONSULTANT FOR A STUDY ON RUTF Country: Flying (two African countries) and Paris (ACF-France HQ) Length of contract: 23 working days, starting as soon as possible Background: Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) is a life threatening condition requiring urgent treatment. It is estimated that over 19 million children are affected by SAM globally, yet the UNICEF global SAM management update indicates that less than about 2.6 million have received treatment in 2012. Limited integration of the management of SAM into national health plans and systems (e.g. integration into the basic package of health services) has been acknowledged as a major challenge for scaling up service delivery. In addition, while the provision of RUTF is at the center of the treatment of SAM, it represents one key barrier for the scale up of quality management. Products form 50% of the overall cost of a CMAM programme and procurement breaks linked to difficulties with storage and supply systems, inadequate forecasting still happens in various contexts. Global SAM treatment relies on internationally produced RUTF, which makes it expensive and a lot of actors are looking at increasing local production in order to improve RUTF affordability. In some contexts, RUTF is not accepted at all for SAM treatment. The WHO list of essential medicines is a list with a normative value and which sets which medicines should be provided by health systems in priority. National health planners largely rely on this list to review their own national medicine’s (and commodities) lists. A movement to add RUTF as an item on the WHO list of essential medicines has started, for potential inclusion in 2017. Yet there is a lack of evidence-based consensus available on whether RUTF should be added on national lists of essential medicines and on which impact this would have on availability of RUTF. In this context, ACF advocacy and technical teams have launched a project to provide further analysis on the potential inclusion of RUTF in the WHO Essential Medicines list and national medicines lists. Our primary assumption is that such move could make a real difference in the way SAM treatment is currently managed by countries and could ultimately highly contribute to increase access to treatment for children suffering from SAM. The position: The aim of this consultancy is to look into whether the addition of RUTF to national lists could improve access to treatment of SAM – availability of RUTF, improvements in supply chain management, integration of SAM treatment into routine essential services for children’s health etc., and to identify which process allows adding RUTF to national EMLs. Under the supervision of the nutrition and health advocacy advisor, the main responsibilities will be to prepare two country case studies, in two countries selected by ACF. Deliverables are: - 2 country case studies of maximum 15 pages each, replying to the questions listed above and with clear recommendations - 1 debriefing session in Paris to discuss key findings and recommendations (Powerpoint presentation) - 1 written feedback report with key findings and recommendations, including a 4 pages synthesis The applicant: • Technical background in public health, nutrition, international development or political science • Good knowledge of supply procurement in health systems and/or of RUTF is an advantage. • Experience in the field of policy and advocacy work, especially to influence decision-making at the national level • Excellent communication skills (written, oral, cross-cultural). • Fluency in English and French If you are interested, please contact: aduchatelet@actioncontrelafaim.org