Open access Linear Programming tool used in East Africa

Dear Katie,

you wrote: I was wondering if anyone knows if there are open access versions of Linear Programming tools, such as those published by:
1) Dibari, et al. Low-Cost, Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods Can Be Designed Using Locally Available Commodities with the Aid of Linear Programming.
2) Ryan, et al. A comprehensive linear programming tool to optimize formulations of ready-to-use therapeutic foods: an application to Ethiopia.

Answer 1: I am the PI of the first paper you quote in your question. For the LP analysis, i used MS Excel and the solver add-in function. You can find all the information in the paper itself (see this link: https://goo.gl/9izGEh).

You wrote: Or has any recommendations for how to go about creating one for a particular region, in this case, Rwanda?

Answer: you may wish to contact Valid International (http://www.validinternational.org) and pose you query. However, in Rwanda you should be able to use other formulations developed for the Sub-saharan African region: there are quite a few formulations already tested. Ask Valid.

You wrote: What is the usefulness of this tool if it was developed for one region but you use it in another?

Answer: it is all down to the acceptability. For this one you may wish to run a small trial. A fancy trial approach fo this kind of settings can be found in this paper: https://goo.gl/YSPP3v

I hope all this helps. If any question remained unsolved, you can contact me on filippo.dibari@wfp.org.

Regards.

fil