Dr. Tahmeed Ahmed, Executive Director of icddr,b, has been named a Goalkeepers Champion for 2024 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In particular, his work on microbiome-directed ready-to-use therapeutic food (MD-RUTF) has proven critical in treating children malnutrition in Bangladesh and other vulnerable locations. Dr. Ahmed was honored for his groundbreaking contributions to the field of child nutrition.
During the week of the UN General Assembly, on September 23, 2024, at 6:00 p.m. EST, in New York, the Goalkeepers 2024: Recipe for Progress event featured the announcement of the award. In addition to honoring ten other world leaders for their contributions to eradicating poverty and enhancing food security, the event honored Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and India’s Mr. Ratan Tata. It also focused on nutrition and creative ways to improve global health in a warming world.
Dr Ahmed’s groundbreaking research, conducted in collaboration with Dr Jeffrey Gordon of Washington University, led to the development of MD-RUTF, a supplement designed to restore the health of severely malnourished children by promoting the growth of beneficial gut bacteria. This innovative treatment is currently being piloted in Bangladesh and five other countries, showing promising results in improving children’s growth and nutritional outcomes.
Speaking about the recognition, Dr Ahmed said, “It is a great honour to be recognised as a Goalkeepers Champion. This award is a testament to the collaborative efforts of many, including my colleagues at icddr,b and partners across the globe. Malnutrition remains one of the most pervasive challenges facing the world today, with one-third of humanity affected. In the face of climate change, the fight to ensure that every child can thrive becomes even more urgent. We need to continue investing in research and innovative solutions to build a healthier, more resilient world for future generations.”
The 2024 Goalkeepers Report, which was made public concurrently with the event, emphasizes how important nutrition is in tackling global health issues in a world that is warming quickly. The paper highlights the need for new solutions, like those developed by Dr. Ahmed, to address the pervasive issue of malnutrition, which affects one-third of the world’s population. The research also emphasizes how critical it is for the world to act quickly to stop climate change from causing an additional 40 million stunted children and 28 million wasted children by the year 2050.
*
Email *
Website
