Subscribe

Back

Who we are

With research staff from more than 70 countries, and offices across the globe, IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.

researcher spotlight

David Spielman

David Spielman is the director of IFPRI’s Innovation Policy and Scaling Unit and has been with the institute since 2004. His research agenda covers a range of topics including agriculture and rural development policy; agricultural science, technology, and innovation; plant genetic resources and seed systems; agricultural extension and advisory services; and community-driven rural development.

Back

What we do

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

Research topics

Projects and impact

Food Security Portal

Modeling tools

What’s new

Where we work

Back

Where we work

IFPRI currently has more than 480 employees working in over 70 countries with a wide range of local, national, and international partners.

IFPRI Regional Programs

IFPRI Country and Regional Offices

Research by country and region

Subscribe

experts

Nutrition, Diets, and Health

Samuel Scott

Research Fellow

Follow

Samuel

at:

ORCiD

Bio

Samuel Scott is a Research Fellow in IFPRI’s Nutrition, Diets, and Health Unit. With IFPRI since 2016, he conducts applied nutrition research in the South Asia region. He has experience working on iron deficiency and anemia, adolescent health, biofortification, human functional outcomes such as cognition, behavior change communication strategies, women’s self-help groups, school feeding programs, and health systems.

Prior to joining IFPRI, Dr. Scott completed postdoctoral research on The Interactions of Malnutrition and Enteric Infections: Consequences for Child Health and Development (MAL-ED) project. His doctoral research involved randomized controlled trials in India and Rwanda to measure the efficacy of iron-biofortified pearl millet and beans, and a study examining interrelations between iron status, physical fitness, and cognitive function among female college students in the United States. He holds a PhD in Nutritional Sciences from the Pennsylvania State University.

Publications

CV

Publications

Resource thumbnail

Working Paper

School meals in the 21st century: Key evidence gaps and future directions

2026
Gelli, Aulo; Bell, Winnie; Bliznashka, Lilia; Eustacchio-Colombo, Patricia; Heirman, Jonas; Jones, Eleanor; Katundu, Mangani; Khincha, Roshni; Lerva, Benedetta; Lombardini, Simone
…more Schultz, Linda; Scott, Samuel P.; Wineman, Ayala; School Meal Evidence Priorities Collaborators
Details

School meals in the 21st century: Key evidence gaps and future directions

School meal programs are a widely implemented safety net with documented impacts across social protection, education, health and nutrition and high estimated returns to investment (Alderman et al., 2024). Globally, in 2022, these programs reached over 400 million children for a total investment of $70 billion a year(Global Child Nutrition Foundation, 2024). The School Meals Coalition (SMC) created in 2021 and involving 106 member countries, has brought momentum and new opportunities for school meals. Collaborative research activities by development partners from the SMC have included evidence generation, review and synthesis, and the identification of key research gaps on school meal programs. This article provides the basis for a common research agenda to support evidence generation aimed at improving action on sustainable school meal programs. These evidence gaps were generated through a series of activities including evidence reviews, expert consultations and stakeholder workshops undertaken by SMC partners.

Year published

2026

Authors

Gelli, Aulo; Bell, Winnie; Bliznashka, Lilia; Eustacchio-Colombo, Patricia; Heirman, Jonas; Jones, Eleanor; Katundu, Mangani; Khincha, Roshni; Lerva, Benedetta; Lombardini, Simone; Schultz, Linda; Scott, Samuel P.; Wineman, Ayala; School Meal Evidence Priorities Collaborators

Citation

Gelli, Aulo; Bell, Winnie; Bliznashka, Lilia; Eustacchio-Colombo, Patricia; Heirman, Jonas; et al. 2026. School meals in the 21st century: Key evidence gaps and future directions. IFPRI Working Paper. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179539

Keywords

School Feeding; Investment; Sustainability; Cost Analysis; Nutrition

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Working Paper

Resource thumbnail

Journal Article

Anaemia among mother-child dyads in India: Trends, drivers, and future projections

2026Pedgaonker, Sarang; Meher, Trupti; Gupta, Monali; Chakrabarti, Suman; Nguyen, Phuong Hong; Singh, Shri Kant; Dwivedi, Laxmi Kant; Aditi; Scott, Samuel P.
Details

Anaemia among mother-child dyads in India: Trends, drivers, and future projections

Anaemia among mothers and their children is a widespread public health challenge with profound consequences for individuals and societies. While anaemia has been studied separately in women and children, there remains a literature gap examining anaemia in mother-child dyads, limiting insights on interventions that may simultaneously address anaemia in both groups. Our study examines trends and drivers of anaemia among mother-child dyads (mothers aged 15–49 years and their children aged 6–59 months; N = 408,342) in India using nationally-representative data from 2006 to 2021 and estimates the potential future reduction in anaemia among mother-child dyads based on changes in selected drivers. We employed descriptive statistics, multivariable logistic regression and population attributable fraction (PAF) analysis. The co-occurrence of anaemia among mothers-child dyads changed very slightly, from 35% in 2006% to 33% in 2016 and to 37% in 2021. Subnational analyses revealed varying trends by states, with Delhi showing the highest increase (17%–32%) and Sikkim the largest decrease (29%–16%) between 2006 and 2021. Maternal education, regular consumption of nonvegetarian food and green leafy vegetables, consumption of iron folic acid supplements, utilization of government health services, and improved sanitation at both household and community levels were associated with lower likelihood of anaemia among mother-child dyads. The cumulative PAF suggested that addressing these factors collectively could reduce anaemia prevalence among mother-child dyads by 18% to 28% (under different scenarios) by 2030. The study underscores the need for comprehensive, multi-sectoral interventions targeting both maternal and child health to effectively combat anaemia in mother-child dyads.

Year published

2026

Authors

Pedgaonker, Sarang; Meher, Trupti; Gupta, Monali; Chakrabarti, Suman; Nguyen, Phuong Hong; Singh, Shri Kant; Dwivedi, Laxmi Kant; Aditi; Scott, Samuel P.

Citation

Pedgaonker, Sarang; Meher, Trupti; Gupta, Monali; Chakrabarti, Suman; Nguyen, Phuong Hong; et al. Anaemia among mother-child dyads in India: Trends, drivers, and future projections. Maternal and Child Nutrition. Article in press. First published online September 29, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.70106

Country/Region

India

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Anaemia; Data; Maternal and Child Health; Public Health; Children; Mothers

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.70106 Source record

Record type

Journal Article

Resource thumbnail

Brief

Supply- and demand-side factors influencing uptake of anemia interventions: Systematic review of evidence from low-and-middle income countries

2025Gune, Soyra; Avula, Rasmi; Scott, Samuel P.; White, Howard; TV, Bhumika; Gupta, Neha; Yadav, Kapil; Vohra, Kashish
Details

Supply- and demand-side factors influencing uptake of anemia interventions: Systematic review of evidence from low-and-middle income countries

This Research Note summarizes findings from a systematic review that included published papers and reports from 27 low-and-middle income countries on barriers and facilitators to uptake of interventions to address anemia. The findings from this review, could inform programs and policies across sectors to strengthen delivery and uptake of interventions for reducing anemia.

Year published

2025

Authors

Gune, Soyra; Avula, Rasmi; Scott, Samuel P.; White, Howard; TV, Bhumika; Gupta, Neha; Yadav, Kapil; Vohra, Kashish

Citation

Gune, Soyra; Avula, Rasmi; Scott, Samuel P.; White, Howard; TV, Bhumika; et al. 2025. Supply- and demand-side factors influencing uptake of anemia interventions: Systematic review of evidence from low-and-middle income countries. SANI Research Note 1. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179908

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Supply Balance; Anaemia; Interventions; Systematic Reviews; Developing Countries

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Blogs

Delivering for Nutrition in South Asia 2024 Conference: Connecting the dots across systems
Event Post
 | 
February 04, 2025

Delivering for Nutrition in South Asia 2024 Conference: Connecting the dots across systems

By Julie Ghostlaw, Esha Sarswat, Shreya Chakraborty, Neha Kumar, Swetha Manohar, and Samuel Scott

Exploring the interconnectedness of food systems.

Global Food Policy Report 2024: Leveraging plant-source foods for sustainable healthy diets
Issue Post
 | 
November 04, 2024

Global Food Policy Report 2024: Leveraging plant-source foods for sustainable healthy diets

By Erick Boy, Inge Brouwer, Jen Foley, Natalia Palacios, Samuel Scott, and Victor Taleon

Integrating more fruits, vegetables, and other high-quality crops into food systems.

School feeding programs improve nutrition and child growth across generations: Evidence from India
Research Post
 | 
August 12, 2021

School feeding programs improve nutrition and child growth across generations: Evidence from India

By Suman Chakrabarti, Samuel Scott, Harold Alderman, Purnima Menon, and Daniel Gilligan

Research shows for the first time the benefits of a key type of social protection program extend years later to the children of recipients.

View all Blogs

Events

Delivering for Nutrition in South Asia: Towards Impact at Scale
IFPRI Program/Country Event

 | 

December 2 to 4, 2025

Delivering for Nutrition in South Asia: Towards Impact at Scale

South Asia continues to face an enduring burden of malnutrition in all its forms—undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, and a steady increase in overweight and obesity and non-communicable diseases. Over 1 billion people in South Asia cannot afford a healthy diet. While many promising solutions have emerged, translating them into sustained, large-scale impact remains a challenge. This […]

Home-Grown School Feeding (HGSF):  Evaluating the Impacts of HGSF Procurement and Delivery Models
IFPRI Program/Country Event

 | 

November 19, 2025, 10:00 – 11:00 am

Home-Grown School Feeding (HGSF):  Evaluating the Impacts of HGSF Procurement and Delivery Models

Home-Grown School Feeding (HGSF) has the potential to transform food systems, strengthen rural economies, and improve child nutrition. This webinar examines emerging evidence on the impacts of HGSF approaches, from local sourcing strategies to multisectoral coordination, with a focus on research from Gambia’s HGSF program and government insights and perspectives from Cambodia’s HGSF model. Speakers […]

What’s on the Menu? Collecting high-quality data to inform school menu decision-making
IFPRI Program/Country Event

 | 

October 30, 2025, 10:00 – 11:00 am

What’s on the Menu? Collecting high-quality data to inform school menu decision-making

The double burden of malnutrition (DBM) – the coexistence of undernutrition and overweight/obesity – poses a critical global health challenge, particularly for children and adolescents. School meal programs offer an opportunity to address the DBM by providing nutritious meals that support growth, development, and lifelong health. However, limited school meal quality data hinders effective, nutritionally-tailored […]

View all Events

News

January 24, 2021 | In the News

Legal age for marriage (Aishwarya Sandeep Blog)

Aishwarya Sandeep Blog published a post on how the government is stepping in to decide on the legal marriage age for men and women. Currently, women can marry at 18, whereas men aren’t allowed to marry until 21. The age of maturity is the same–eighteen years of age. To avoid sex discrimination, the same should be true for marriage. […]

August 17, 2020 | In the News

India Has 1.5 Million Underage Brides Every Year. Here’s How ’21’ Can Change That (Better India)

Better India published an article on the government’s campaign to prevent underage marriage for girls. A task force to examine issues related to age of motherhood, lowering Maternal Mortality Rate and improvement of nutritional levels was created. An IFPRI study, “Social, biological and programmatic factors link adolescent pregnancy to early childhood undernutrition: a path analysis of India’s 2016 National […]

April 03, 2020 | In the News

India’s lockdown carries a silver lining: bluer skies (Asian Review)

Asian Review (Japan) published an article on air pollution in India, particularly New Delhi. The 21-day lockdown, ordered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to contain the spread of COVID-19 has improved air quality with factories idle, no cars on roads, and most public transportation suspended.  The article quoted from the study, Risk of acute respiratory infection from crop burning […]

View all News