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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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Development Strategies and Governance

Salauddin Tauseef

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Bio

Salauddin Tauseef is an Associate Research Fellow in IFPRI’s Development Strategies and Governance Unit, based in Vientiane, Lao PDR. A development economist, Salauddin works primarily in applied microeconomics, focusing on agriculture, poverty, vulnerability, food security, and women’s empowerment. He has worked on diverse projects including impact evaluations of social protection and nutrition-sensitive agriculture programs. Prior to joining IFPRI, he worked with the World Bank’s Gender and Adolescent: Global Evidence (GAGE) program under the South Asia Gender Innovation Lab. He has also worked at IFPRI-Bangladesh for the Policy Research and Strategy Support Program. Salauddin received his PhD in Economics from the University of Manchester, UK, an MA in Economics from the University of California-Riverside, and a BSc in Economics from the North South University, Bangladesh.

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Publications

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Journal Article

Sustainable poverty reduction through social assistance: Modality, context, and complementary programming in Bangladesh

2025Ahmed, Akhter; Hidrobo, Melissa; Hoddinott, John F.; Kolt, Bastien; Roy, Shalini; Tauseef, Salauddin
Details

Sustainable poverty reduction through social assistance: Modality, context, and complementary programming in Bangladesh

Social assistance programs can increase consumption and reduce poverty, but less is known about whether these impacts are sustained after programs end, or how design and context influence sustainability. Using data collected in two regions of Bangladesh four years after a randomized intervention ended, we find that combining cash transfers with complementary programming led to sustained increases in consumption and reductions in poverty. Combining food transfers with complementary programming showed similar patterns, to a lesser extent. Cash alone had context-specific sustained effects; food alone had no sustained impacts. Results suggest that context, modality, and complementary programming matter for sustained impacts.

Year published

2025

Authors

Ahmed, Akhter; Hidrobo, Melissa; Hoddinott, John F.; Kolt, Bastien; Roy, Shalini; Tauseef, Salauddin

Citation

Ahmed, Akhter; Hidrobo, Melissa; Hoddinott, John; Kolt, Bastien; Roy, Shalini; and Tauseef, Salauddin. 2025. Sustainable poverty reduction through social assistance: Modality, context, and complementary programming in Bangladesh. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 17(2): 102-126. https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20230108

Country/Region

Bangladesh

Keywords

Southern Asia; Aid Programmes; Poverty; Sustainability; Cash Transfers; Food; Social Protection

Language

English

Access/Licence

Limited Access

Links

https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20230108 Source record

Project

Gender Equality

Record type

Journal Article

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Journal Article

Food avoidance taboos during breastfeeding are widespread and associated with large declines in maternal dietary diversity in Myanmar

2025Headey, Derek; Tauseef, Salauddin; Linn, Khin Mar; Oo, Theingi; Nyi, Soe Nyi
Details

Food avoidance taboos during breastfeeding are widespread and associated with large declines in maternal dietary diversity in Myanmar

Background Maternal food avoidance practices during pregnancy and breastfeeding have been documented in several Asian countries, but their prevalence and impacts on dietary diversity are not well quantified. Objectives This study: (1) assessed the prevalence of beliefs around maternal food avoidance during breastfeeding in Myanmar; (2) explored the correlates of women’s food avoidance beliefs as well as mother’s stated rationales for avoiding specific foods; and (3) assessed how minimum dietary diversity (MDD-W) of mothers changed from pregnancy to postpartum/breastfeeding. Methods We added a novel nutrition module to a nationally representative survey (N=12,353) in Myanmar to estimate the prevalence of beliefs around maternal food avoidance during breastfeeding and re-surveyed a subsample of mothers (N=155) to understand avoidance of specific foods. We then used a high-frequency panel of mothers in Yangon (N=3,541) to assess how MDD-W changed from pregnancy to postpartum/breastfeeding using mother fixed effects regressions. Results 40 percent of adult women in Myanmar believe breastfeeding mothers should avoid at least one food group that nutritionists would typically define as a healthy (e.g. vegetables, fruits). Regression analysis indicated these beliefs were less prevalent among women with more education and nutritional knowledge, and with exposure to nutrition counselling from community health workers. Mothers rationalized food avoidance by referring to a variety of perceived maternal and child health risks. MDD-W of mothers in the Yangon panel fell by 43 percentage points from pregnancy to the first month after birth, including significant declines in eight of the ten MDD-W food groups. MDD-W remained significantly lower up to six months after birth than during pregnancy. Conclusions Food avoidance taboos during breastfeeding pose a potentially serious risk of micronutrient deficiencies for mothers and infants and warrant more extensive monitoring in nutrition surveys and more research on how to redress these nutritionally harmful beliefs and practices.

Year published

2025

Authors

Headey, Derek; Tauseef, Salauddin; Linn, Khin Mar; Oo, Theingi; Nyi, Soe Nyi

Citation

Headey, Derek; Tauseef, Salauddin; Linn, Khin Mar; Oo, Theingi; and Nyi, Soe Nyi. Food avoidance taboos during breastfeeding are widespread and associated with large declines in maternal dietary diversity in Myanmar. Journal of Nutrition. Article in press. First published online April 11, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tjnut.2025.04.007

Country/Region

Myanmar

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Avoidance Behaviour; Breastfeeding; Dietary Diversity; Maternal Behaviour; Micronutrient Deficiencies

Language

English

Access/Licence

Limited Access

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tjnut.2025.04.007 Source record

Record type

Journal Article

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Opinion Piece

How programme design and local context shape the lasting effects of cash and food transfers

2024Ahmed, Akhter; Hidrobo, Melissa; Hoddinott, John F.; Kolt, Bastien; Roy, Shalini; Tauseef, Salauddin
Details

How programme design and local context shape the lasting effects of cash and food transfers

A transfer programme in Bangladesh led to sustained consumption increases and reduced poverty four years post-programme, but design and context mattered. Cash and food transfer programmes in low- and middle-income countries have been shown to be highly effective in increasing household consumption and reducing household poverty in the short term ​(Bastagli et al. 2016, Hidrobo et al. 2018, ​Borga and D’Ambrosio 2021, Ravallion 2016​​). But evidence on whether they sustain longer-term impacts after programmes end is more mixed. Some studies of transfer programmes show significant sustained medium- to long-term impacts on consumption and poverty (​e.g. Carneiro et al. 2021, Stoeffler et al. 2020, ​Macours et al. 2022​)​, but others show effects fading out (e.g. Handa et al. 2019, Cahyadi et al. 2020, Haushofer and Shapiro 2018 ​)​. Some interventions combining transfers with additional components such as cash “plus” programmes or multi-faceted graduation models sustain impacts on consumption four to ten years post-intervention (Bandiera et al. 2017, Banerjee et al. 2022), while others do not (Brune et al. 2022).

Year published

2024

Authors

Ahmed, Akhter; Hidrobo, Melissa; Hoddinott, John F.; Kolt, Bastien; Roy, Shalini; Tauseef, Salauddin

Citation

Ahmed, Akhter; Hidrobo, Melissa; Hoddinott, John; Kolt, Bastien; Roy, Shalini; and Tauseef, Salauddin. 2024. How programme design and local context shape the lasting effects of cash and food transfers. VoxDev article. Published online on December 16, 2024. https://voxdev.org/topic/health/how-programme-design-and-local-context-shape-lasting-effects-cash-and-food-transfers

Country/Region

Bangladesh

Keywords

Southern Asia; Poverty; Cash Transfers; Aid Programmes; Consumption

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

Gender Equality

Record type

Opinion Piece