USAID Advancing Nutrition has worked with nutrition stakeholders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), including the government, implementing  partners, and United Nations agencies, to better understand and document ways to strengthen the quality and continuity of interventions to treat and prevent wasting in children under 5. This includes analyzing and costing the last mile of the ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) supply chain, a critical component of reducing malnutrition in many rural communities. Ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) are energy-dense products that are effective in treating severe child wasting.

Supply chain challenges related to RUTF are important because unreliable access to these products can directly contribute to increased child mortality. To strengthen RUTF access, USAID Advancing Nutrition analyzed and estimated the cost of the last mile of the supply chain in selected health zones in  two provinces—Kasai Oriental and Nord Kivu. This mixed methods study examined different supply chain pipelines for RUTF in DRC, the drivers of each pipeline’s costs, how their performance differs and the key challenges to product availability across the various supply chain pipelines. This information will help identify  solutions for these supply chains in USAID’s areas of operation.

Learning from this activity will be shared in a report made available in the USAID Advancing Nutrition Resource Hub.