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With research staff from more than 60 countries, and offices across the globe, IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.

Ahmed Akhter

researcher spotlight

Akhter Ahmed

Akhter Ahmed is a Senior Research Fellow in the IFPRI’s Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit and Country Representative for IFPRI Bangladesh. He has worked on strategies for agricultural and rural development, social protection, and women’s empowerment to reduce poverty, food insecurity, and undernutrition in developing countries including Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Malawi, the Philippines, and Turkey.

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Since 1975, IFPRI’s research has been informing policies and development programs to improve food security, nutrition, and livelihoods around the world.

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IFPRI currently has more than 600 employees working in over 80 countries with a wide range of local, national, and international partners.

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experts

Nutrition, Diets, and Health

Stuart Gillespie

Nonresident Senior Fellow

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Bio

Stuart Gillespie is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow in the Nutrition, Diets, and Health Unit, and was formerly a Senior Research Fellow. During his time with IFPRI, he initiated the Regional Network on AIDS, Livelihoods and Food Security (RENEWAL), the CGIAR’s Agriculture and Health Research Platform (AHRP), the TANDI project, Stories of Change in Nutrition, and the Transform Nutrition Research Program Consortium. He was also Research Director of the Leveraging Agriculture for Nutrition in South Asia (LANSA) consortium, Leader of the SPEAR flagship (Supporting Policies, Programs and Enabling Action through Research) of the CGIAR Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH) research program, and Director of the Transform Nutrition West Africa program.

Prior to joining IFPRI in 1999, he worked with UNICEF, the World Bank, WFP, FAO, WHO, UNSCN, ADB, the Micronutrient Initiative, and other agencies on nutrition policy analysis and program support.

He has 200 publications, including 10 books, 14 monographs, and 22 book chapters, and holds a PhD in Human Nutrition from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. His latest book ‘Food Fight: From Plunder and Profit to People and Planet’ was published in 2025.

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Publications

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Journal Article

Stories of change in nutrition: Lessons from a new generation of studies from Africa, Asia and Europe

2023Headey, Derek D.; Gillespie, Stuart; Avula, Rasmi; Becquey, Elodie; Nisbett, Nicholas; Harris, Jody
Details

Stories of change in nutrition: Lessons from a new generation of studies from Africa, Asia and Europe

How does nutrition improve? We need to understand better what drives both positive and negative change in different contexts, and what more can be done to reduce malnutrition. Since 2015, the Stories of Change in Nutrition studies have analysed and documented experiences in many different African and Asian countries, to foster empirically-grounded experiential learning across contexts. This article provides an overview of findings from 14 studies undertaken in nine countries in South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and Europe between 2017 and 2021. The studies used a combination of methods, including regression-decomposition analyses of national datasets to assess determinants of nutritional change; policy process and food environment analyses; and community-level research assessing attitudes to change. This article takes a narrative synthesis approach to identify key themes across the studies, paying particular attention to multisectoral determinants, changes in the food environment, the role of structural factors (including longstanding social inequities), and changes in political commitment, cross-sectoral coherence and capacity. Given the inherent multisectoral nature of nutrition, many countries are experimenting with different models of ensuring coherence across sectors that are captured in this body of work. The relative immaturity of the policy sector in dealing with issues such as obesity and overweight, and associated influences in the wider food environment, adds a further challenge. To address these interrelated issues, policy must simultaneously tackle nutrition’s upstream (social/economic/equity) and downstream (health and dietary) determinants. Studies synthesised here provide empirically-driven inspiration for action.

Year published

2023

Authors

Headey, Derek D.; Gillespie, Stuart; Avula, Rasmi; Becquey, Elodie; Nisbett, Nicholas; Harris, Jody

Citation

Headey, Derek D.; Gillespie, Stuart; Avula, Rasmi; Becquey, Elodie; Nisbett, Nicholas; Harris, Jody, et al. 2023. Stories of change in nutrition: Lessons from a new generation of studies from Africa, Asia and Europe. Food Security 15: 133-149. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-022-01314-8

Country/Region

South Africa

Keywords

Southern Asia; Asia; Southern Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Africa; Europe; Food Environment; Attitudes; Policies; Regression-decomposition Analyses; Equity; Malnutrition; Nutrition; Obesity

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-022-01314-8 Source record

Project

Agriculture for Nutrition and Health

Record type

Journal Article

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Journal Article

The effect of electronic job aid assisted one-to-one counselling to support exclusive breastfeeding among 0–5-month-old infants in rural Bangladesh

2022Billah, Sk Masum; Ferdous, Tarana E.; Siddique, Abu Bakkar; Raynes-Greenow, Camille; Kelly, Patrick; Gillespie, Stuart; Hoddinott, John F.; Menon, Purnima
Details

The effect of electronic job aid assisted one-to-one counselling to support exclusive breastfeeding among 0–5-month-old infants in rural Bangladesh

Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) for the first 6 months has established benefits, yet had slow improvements globally. Little is known about electronic job aid-assisted counselling to support EBF. As a secondary outcome of a cluster randomized controlled trial in Bangladesh, we assessed the effect of electronic job aid-supported nutrition counselling and practical demonstration on EBF. We randomized pregnant women to one of five study arms in the trial and followed mother–child dyads until 2 years of age. Community health workers (CHWs) provided breastfeeding counselling with or without prenatal and complementary nutrient supplements in all four intervention arms. The comparison arm continued with the usual practice where mothers could receive nutrition counselling at routine antenatal and postnatal care, and during careseeking for childhood illnesses. We assessed breastfeeding indicators at birth and monthly until the child was 6 months old, in both intervention and comparison arms. To evaluate the effect of nutrition counselling on breastfeeding, we combined all four intervention arms and compared them with the comparison arm. Intervention newborns had half the risk (relative risk [RR]: 0.54, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.39, 0.76) of receiving prelacteal feeds than those in the comparison arm. EBF declined steeply in the comparison arm after 3 months of age. EBF was 16% higher in the intervention than the comparison arm at 4 months (RR: 1.16, 95% CI: 1.08, 1.23) and 22% higher at 5 months of age (RR: 1.22, 95% CI: 1.12, 1.33). Maternal background and household characteristics did not modify the intervention effect, and we observed no difference in EBF among caesarean versus vaginal births. Breastfeeding counselling and practical demonstration using an electronic job aid by CHWs are promising interventions to improve EBF and are scalable into existing community-based programmes.

Year published

2022

Authors

Billah, Sk Masum; Ferdous, Tarana E.; Siddique, Abu Bakkar; Raynes-Greenow, Camille; Kelly, Patrick; Gillespie, Stuart; Hoddinott, John F.; Menon, Purnima

Citation

Masum Billah, Sk; Ferdous, Tarana E.; Siddique, Abu Bakkar; Raynes-Greenow, Camille; Kelly, Patrick; Gillespie, Stuart; Hoddinott, John F.; Menon, Purnima; et al. 2022. The effect of electronic job aid assisted one-to-one counselling to support exclusive breastfeeding among 0–5-month-old infants in rural Bangladesh. Maternal and Child Nutrition 18(3): e13377. https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.13377

Country/Region

Bangladesh

Keywords

Southern Asia; Asia; Maternal and Child Health; Infants; Child Nutrition; Undernutrition; Health; Nutrition; Infant Feeding; Breastfeeding; Rural Areas

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-NC-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.13377 Source record

Record type

Journal Article

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Journal Article

Conflict of interest in nutrition: Where’s the power? Comment on “Towards preventing and managing conflict of interest in nutrition policy? An analysis of submissions to a consultation on a draft WHO tool”

2022Harris, Jody; Nisbett, Nicholas; Gillespie, Stuart
Details

Conflict of interest in nutrition: Where’s the power? Comment on “Towards preventing and managing conflict of interest in nutrition policy? An analysis of submissions to a consultation on a draft WHO tool”

Actual or perceived conflict of interests (COIs) among public and private actors in the field of nutrition must be managed. Ralston et al expose sharply contrasting views on the new World Health Organization (WHO) COI management tool, highlighting the contested nature of global debates. Both the WHO COI tool and the Ralston et al paper are largely quiet on aspects of power among different actors, however, which we argue is integral to these conflicts. We suggest that power needs to be acknowledged as a factor in COI; that it needs to be systematically assessed in COI tools using approaches we outline here; and that it needs to be explicitly addressed through COI mechanisms. We would recommend that all actors in the nutrition space (not only private companies) are held to the same COI standards, and we would welcome further studies such as Ralston et al to further build accountability.

Year published

2022

Authors

Harris, Jody; Nisbett, Nicholas; Gillespie, Stuart

Citation

Harris, Jody; Nisbett, Nicholas; and Gillespie, Stuart. 2022. Conflict of interest in nutrition: Where’s the power? Comment on “Towards preventing and managing conflict of interest in nutrition policy? An analysis of submissions to a consultation on a draft WHO tool”. International Journal of Health Policy and Management 3(11): 391-393. https://doi.org/10.34172/ijhpm.2020.177

Keywords

Policies; Nutrition Policies; Conflict of Interest; Nutrition; Private Sector; Public Health; Accountability

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.34172/ijhpm.2020.177 Source record

Project

Agriculture for Nutrition and Health

Record type

Journal Article

Blogs

Lessons from the AIDS epidemic on how COVID-19 may impact food and nutrition security
IFPRI Blog
 | 
March 30, 2020

Lessons from the AIDS epidemic on how COVID-19 may impact food and nutrition security

By Stuart Gillespie and Alan Whiteside

Poverty, malnutrition, weak healthcare systems, and other factors will complicate the response to the pandemic.

Focus on the political and commercial drivers behind the double burden of malnutrition
IFPRI Blog
 | 
January 07, 2020

Focus on the political and commercial drivers behind the double burden of malnutrition

By Stuart Gillespie

The products and practices of many transnational food companies continue to drive the problem, as their corporate social responsibility people argue for a seat at the table.

Principles, practice, and the private sector’s role in malnutrition: Time to review red lines?
IFPRI Blog
 | 
May 29, 2019

Principles, practice, and the private sector’s role in malnutrition: Time to review red lines?

By Stuart Gillespie and Nick Nisbett

How should government agencies and development and nutrition professionals engage with businesses? 

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Events

2025 Global Food Policy Report | Food Policy: Lessons and Priorities for a Changing World
IFPRI Policy Seminar

 | 

May 28, 2025, 9:00 – 12:30 pm

2025 Global Food Policy Report | Food Policy: Lessons and Priorities for a Changing World

Also streaming on Please type your questions into the chat box with name, affiliation, and country. The event video, presenter slides, and podcast will be available in the days following the event. Over the last 50 years, the world’s food systems have evolved tremendously amid major economic, environmental, and social changes. Throughout this period, policy […]

Delivering for Nutrition in South Asia: Transforming Diets
IFPRI Program/Country Event

 | 

November 9 to 10, 2022

Delivering for Nutrition in South Asia: Transforming Diets

Hybrid Event: November 9, 2022 – 4:30 PM to November 10, 2022 – 6:30 PM GMT. The purpose of this conference is to synthesize relevant evidence and stimulate dialogue to inform and guide policy and program initiatives in South Asia for improving equitable access to and consumption of healthy diets.

Micronutrient Forum: 5th Global Conference
Series/Special Event

 | 

November 9 to 13, 2020

Micronutrient Forum: 5th Global Conference

IFPRI is participating in the Micronutrient Forum’s 5th Global Conference on “Building New Evidence and Alliances for Improving Nutrition.” Food systems are at the heart of determining what people eat. Micronutrients are at the heart of the potential of food systems to deliver optimal health. The 2020 Micronutrient Forum conference will continue to cover the broad […]

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News

June 04, 2020 | In the News

Look back and learn: How past pandemics and epidemics inform COVID-19 response (The New Humanitarian) 

The New Humanitarian published an article on eight takeaways from 25 years of reporting on global health crises. The article referenced the IFPRI book, HIV/AIDs and food and nutrition security by Senior Research Fellow Stuart Gillespie and Suneetha Kadiyala on how the “destructive relationship” between HIV/AIDS and hunger became clear. IFPRI measured the impact of the disease on household-level income, especially for those who depended on farming. 

May 28, 2020 | In the News

Targeting and prioritization of impoverished and food-insecure populations affected by COVID-19: Safeguarding and scaling up assistance for people most at risk – May 2020   (Relief Web)

Relief Web reports on the recent World Food Program report. The report focused on targeting and prioritization of impoverished and food-insecure populations affected by COVID-19. This report quotes Stuart Gillespie and Alan Whiteside’s IFPRI blog on How COVID-19 may impact food and nutrition security as well as David Laborde, Will Martin, and Rob Vos’s IFPRI blog on Growth of poverty and food insecurity. Republished in Nigeria News Shafaqna.

May 03, 2020 | In the News

Caring for good food (El Pais)

El Pais published an op-ed by Senior Research Fellow Stuart Gillespie. Gillespie offers hopeful recommendations. “We are facing a critical moment in history when we can turn adversity into an advantage and build a better world. To do this we need to transform global and national food systems and put the health of people and the planet ahead of short-term benefit.” 

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