Severe acute malnutrition affects an estimated 17 million children around the world, and is responsible for 1-2 million deaths annually. Recognising the scale of the challenge and the opportunity for change, a coalition of UNICEF, DFID, ECHO, CIFF and Action Against Hunger have joined forces to launch the No Wasted Lives Initiative.

A key component of this initiative will be to invest in and accelerate the roll-out of the best approaches to prevent and treat severe acute malnutrition, and help ensure new ideas get put into practice quickly at the global, regional and national levels. This will be driven in two ways.

First, through the new State of Severe Malnutrition website to improve coordination and communication about emerging evidence and innovative ongoing operational research across the sector. And second, through the coordination of a technical panel of independent experts who will review the latest research findings and produce guidance to programmes on the ground and policy-makers to drive the efficient and effective uptake of emerging evidence.

Sitting within the Operations Department at Action Against Hunger UK, the Research Uptake & Communications Advisor will work closely with the Head of Evidence based in the UK, Director of International Nutrition Initiatives based in the US, and Regional Advisors in West Africa, East Africa, and South Asia to drive effective uptake and use of emerging evidence on the prevention and treatment of severe acute malnutrition.