Country: Senegal
Closing date: 30 Jun 2017
Background
Severe acute malnutrition (SAM) results in 1- 2 million preventable child deaths each year and affects children’s prospects of surviving and thriving in all areas of their lives. Severely malnourished children are 9 times more likely to die from common infection than their better-nourished peers. Treatment for this most lethal form of malnutrition is simple and effective. More than 70% of those treated are cured but less than 20% of children affected are able to access the treatment they need. It does not have to be this way: the world has the knowledge, the ability and the resources to help.
The No Wasted Lives coalition will help accelerate a child survival revolution by building knowledge about prevention and treatment of acute malnutrition, catalysing investment, and doubling the number of children receiving treatment to 6 million a year by 2020. By investing more resources and working better together we could save millions of lives, and build a brighter, more productive future for all.
The Council of Research & Technical Advice on SAM (CORTASAM) was founded under No Wasted Lives in 2016 and is comprised of leading experts in child health and nutrition. The goal of the Council is to drive the use of evidence for action, in order to ultimately reach more children with effective treatment and prevention programmes. A critical role of CORTASAM is to identify key research areas across acute malnutrition and support the prioritisation of focus areas between now and 2020, to fill gaps in the evidence and inform coordination and action to scale-up evidence-based prevention and treatment programmes. The purpose of this exercise was to provide a robust and transparent framework to collect global, regional, and country-level stakeholder feedback on the research priorities across the continuum of acute malnutrition in children 0-5 years of age.
Now that the exercise is completed, a set of priorities at global and regional levels is available. This ToR will focus on supporting the priorities identified in West and Central Africa, in order to support existing efforts to scale-up service availability and integration in to health systems. Building on the results of the prioritisation process, No Wasted Lives would like to commission an academic partner to complete the deeper, disaggregated evidence review of 1-2 specific areas.
Objectives and Scope
The evidence review should provide a systematic and robust assessment of the evidence available related to the prioritised list of research topics, including a systematic literature review, discussions with key authors and exploration of grey literature. Meta-analyses where feasible would be encouraged. The following areas are a provisional indication of the evidence topics;
Effective diagnosis tools for SAM at community level
Approaches for SAM children with diarrhea
The relationship between mother’s nutrition and acute malnutrition in children
Optimized dosage of therapeutic foods for SAM
Community based detection of SAM and treatment seeking behaviors
The final theme to be selected will be based on a consultative process at regional level, with partners of the No Wasted Lives coalition. Availability of evidence will be a large consideration in selecting the specific theme, to ensure relevance of this evidence review. Following identification of the topic, a PICO framework should be outlined and search terms developed with the No Wasted Lives team. Reporting should follow PRISMA guidelines.
If available, a further meta-analysis of previously unpublished existing datasets should be included to strengthen the review and build on existing evidence.
In order to ensure quality, a sub-group of the members of CORTASAM will be established to supervise this piece of work including methodological oversight and report review.
In addition to the evidence review, the final deliverable should include a set of recommendations, based on the review of available evidence, including identifying outstanding gaps in the evidence. These recommendations will be reviewed by the expert panel, or a subset of it, to set the agenda going forwards.
Timeframe
This piece of work should start on July 1st 2017, with the final report delivered by the 31st August 2017. Timing (minimum 2 weeks) should be allowed for review of the draft report by the expert panel ahead of the submission of the final report.
Deliverables
The primary deliverable will be a final report summarising the findings of the review and any new meta-analyses and recommendations based on the findings for the expert group to consider. The primary immediate audience will be the No Wasted Lives coalition, CORTASAM, and their partners. However, we encourage further publication of the findings in a peer reviewed journal to contribute to the field.
Qualifications
Sound knowledge and proven record of scientific publications in nutrition
Experience in conducting systematic reviews
Experience in evaluating and translating science into policy making. Previous experience at country level in policy, strategy development and programme implementation would be an advantage
Experience of working with government counterparts, UN agencies and NGO partners.
Excellent written and oral English required and technical abilities and skills in reviewing literature and synthesizing information.
Understanding of French is desirable.
How to apply:
Interested candidates must submit their CV and a one page expression of interest outlining your experience and availability later than 30th June 2017. Please submit to Sophie Woodhead (swoodhead@wa.acfspain.org ) Please include “CONSULTANT EVIDENCE REVIEW” in the subject matter of your email application.
