Supply
Supply Chain
The UNICEF RUTF Market Dashboard is an interactive tool for partners, manufacturers and countries, providing up-to-date information on the delivery of ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF), a life-saving supply item that treats severe wasting in children under 5 years old. The RUTF Market Dashboard is the go-to public resource for the latest information on RUTF deliveries by UNICEF and the product’s global market.
UNICEF has developed the first Healthy Market Framework (HMF) for the ready-to-use-therapeutic food (RUTF) market, which underlines UNICEF’s responsibility to children and commitment to transparency and sharing in-depth market knowledge. Inspired by HMFs for vaccines and related products, the HMF for RUTF sets out details of market attributes and defines and rates these attributes in a global framework. The HMF also lays out the methodology and tools to evaluate market health, prioritize interventions and analyze trade-offs.
The Codex Guidelines for Ready to Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTF), adopted in November 2022, defines RUTF as a food for special medical purposes (FSMP) and sets out the rules for food safety and requirements for its nutritional composition. The new guideline also enables the development of new versions of this life-saving product that are best suited for the local context. Governments can now use the RUTF Guideline to regulate manufacturers as they scale up RUTF production to tackle the malnutrition crisis currently affecting millions of children.
The WHO Model List of Essential Medicines (EML) is updated and published every two years, intended as a guide for countries or regional authorities to adopt or adapt in accordance with local priorities and treatment guidelines for the development and updating of national essential medicines lists. In 2023, RUTF was added to the EML for the first time, facilitating procurement and inclusion of RUTF into national governments essential medicines list.
Additional resources can be found:
- Specifications for nutrition products
- UNICEF Market updates: Market notes and updates | UNICEF Supply Division
