Event Information

Description:

Assessing and monitoring diet quality is crucial for improving nutrition, especially in low- and middle-income countries where diets are rapidly changing. This webinar will focus on the double burden of malnutrition, exploring current gaps in diet quality metrics and potential policy measures for ensuring high-quality diets are affordable. We will discuss a range of metrics for quality and access, including Prime Diet Quality Score (PDQS), Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women (MDD-W), Mean Adequacy Ratio (MAR), and cost and affordability measures. Data from Tanzania, Bangladesh, and other NIL focus countries will be examined.

Moderator:

Lindsey Anna, MPH- Lindsey Anna is a public health and international development professional with over 10 years of experience designing, implementing, and monitoring multi-sectoral development programs. As a Nutrition Analytics Advisor for USAID's Bureau for Resilience and Food Security, Lindsey provides analytic technical support to Bureau, Mission, and Agency staff to improve strategy, design, and performance measurement, with an emphasis on multi-sectoral nutrition. Lindsey has an MPH from The George Washington University.

Panelists:

Anne Swindale, PhD- Anne Swindale is Senior Monitoring, Evaluation and Analysis Advisor and Metrics and Methods Team Lead in the Analysis and Learning Division, Office for Policy, Analysis and Engagement in the Bureau for Resilience and Food Security. She is an economist with more than 30 years of experience in technical assistance, research and project management in agriculture, food security, and nutrition strategy and program assessment, design, monitoring, and evaluation. She holds a PhD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University with a specialization in development economics and food, nutrition, and agricultural policies.

Rumana Akter, MPH, PhD- Rumana Akter is a senior nutrition advisor at Save the Children Bangladesh. She has been working with international development organizations, including UN agencies, for more than 12 years. Her research broadly focuses on nutrition-sensitive agriculture, social behavior change communication, and WASH for improving diet quality and nutrition in rural Bangladesh.

Isabel Madzorera, MS, ScD-  Isabel Madzorera is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard School of Public Health. Isabel has a doctoral degree in Nutritional Epidemiology from Harvard University, a master’s degree from Tufts University, and a BSc degree in Nutrition from the University of Zimbabwe. Her interests are in the intersection of agriculture, nutrition, and sustainable diets. Her work experience includes working with Save the Children, IITA, UNICEF, World Bank, and the Ministry of Health (Zimbabwe).

Will Masters, PhD- Will Masters is a Professor in the Friedman School of Nutrition and the Department of Economics at Tufts University. He is the co-author of an undergraduate textbook, Economics of Agricultural Development: World Food Systems and Resource Use  (Routledge, 4th ed. 2021) and is an elected Fellow of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA).