Task Force Member Asma Lateef Interviewed on NPR

Task Force member Asma Lateef is interviewed along with Roger Thurow, author of “The First 1,000 Days: A Crucial Time for Mothers and Children—And The World,” on the Diane Rehm Show. Their conversation focuses on Thurow’s new book, which examines a growing international movement to address malnutrition during the critical period spanning a woman’s pregnancy to a child’s second birthday. Asma discusses the pivotal 2008 Lancet series on undernutrition, a nascent but growing commitment to bring nutrition interventions to scale, and the need to pursue a more integrated approach in order to better reach women and children. She drew on her experience from the April Task Force delegation to Zambia to highlight the importance of better integrating nutrition and health.

Listen to the interview here.

About the Author

Asma Lateef

Asma Lateef has been director of the Bread for the World Institute since 2007. Ms. Lateef is responsible for implementing the Institute’s analysis and education on policy issues related to U.S. and global hunger, malnutrition and poverty. Since 2010, she has been involved in efforts to establish and support the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement. She now serves on the Steering Committee of the SUN Movement’s Civil Society Network and is also a member of the executive committee of the 1,000 Days Advocacy Working Group. Ms. Lateef has a master’s degree in economics from the University of Maryland, a post-graduate diploma in economics from the London School of Economics and a bachelor’s degree in Geography from McGill University. She has over 20 years of experience in public policy and extensive experience developing and implementing policy advocacy strategies. Prior to becoming Institute Director, Ms. Lateef was director of Policy and Programs at Citizens for Global Solutions and a senior international policy analyst in the Government Relations Department of Bread for the World. In 2003, she led Bread for the World’s campaign to support the establishment of the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) and the Millennium Challenge Corporation.

Asma Lateef