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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.

researcher spotlight

Kalyani Raghunathan

Kalyani Raghunathan is Research Fellow in the Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit, based in New Delhi, India. Her research lies at the intersection of agriculture, gender, social protection, and public health and nutrition, with a specific focus on South Asia and Africa. 

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IFPRI currently has more than 600 employees working in over 80 countries with a wide range of local, national, and international partners.

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experts

Nutrition, Diets, and Health

Marie Ruel

Senior Research Fellow

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Marie Ruel

Bio

Marie T. Ruel is a Senior Research Fellow in the Nutrition, Diets, and Health Unit. She was the Director of IFPRI’s Poverty, Health, and Nutrition Division from 2004 to 2023, after serving as Senior Research Fellow and Research Fellow in that division beginning in 1996. She led the Multi-Country Program on Challenges to Urban Food and Nutrition and the Global Regional Project on Diet Quality and Diet Changes of the Poor. She also led the development of the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH) and was a member of its Program Management Committee, where she led its portfolio of research on integrated programs and policies.

Dr. Ruel has worked for more than 25 years on policies and programs to alleviate poverty, food insecurity, and malnutrition in developing countries. She has published extensively in nutrition and epidemiology journals on topics such as maternal and child nutrition, food-based strategies to improve diet quality and micronutrient nutrition, urban livelihoods, food security and nutrition, and the development and validation of simple indicators to measure child feeding, care-giving practices, and food security. Her current research focuses on the evaluation and strengthening of a wide range of integrated, multisectoral development programs in the areas of agriculture, social protection, and health, and on building evidence on their role in reducing maternal and child malnutrition globally.

Prior to IFPRI, Dr. Ruel was head of the Nutrition and Health Division at the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama/Pan American Health Organization (INCAP/PAHO) in Guatemala, where she worked and lived for six years. Dr. Ruel has served on various international expert committees, such as the National Academy of Sciences, the International Zinc in Nutrition Consultative Group, and the Micronutrient Forum. She received her PhD in International Nutrition from Cornell University and her master’s degree in Health Sciences from Laval University in Canada.

Languages spoken: English, French, Spanish

Publications

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Publications

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Report

Resilient Cities urban nutrition profile: Ethiopia

2024Margolies, Amy; Amunga, Dorcas; Zerfu, Taddese; Ruel, Marie T.; Olney, Deanna K.
Details

Resilient Cities urban nutrition profile: Ethiopia

Key Messages -Undernutrition has declined over time, but stunting still affects 40 percent of rural children and 25 percent of urban children. -Micronutrient deficiencies—especially deficiencies in folate, zinc and Vitamin D—are a critical concern, particularly for urban women and girls. -Dietary quality is low in both rural and urban areas: while urban diets are moderately more diverse than rural ones, rising consumption of unhealthy foods is more of a concern than in rural areas at this time. -The cost of consuming a healthy diet in Ethiopia increased from US $2.83 to $3.72 from 2017—2022, and over half of the population is currently unable to afford a healthy diet. -Concurrent conflict and climate shocks are causing acute nutritional needs in some regions. Humanitarian food aid is key to reducing food insecurity and should be provided to households without access to land who rely on income for food purchases, such as those in urban areas. -Overweight and obesity are still uncommon among young children but are increasing rapidly among urban women. In urban areas, 20 percent of women are overweight, compared to 4 percent in rural areas. The rise in urban overweight is driven by lifestyle changes associated with urbanization and unhealthy food environments, which are associated with poor quality diets and reduced physical activity. -Overnutrition and diet-related noncommunicable diseases are especially prevalent in Addis Ababa. -Food safety is a challenge, and evidence is lacking on how to improve vendor safety knowledge and practices to protect consumer health. -National social protection programs often fail to reach the urban poor and lack explicit nutrition interventions in urban areas. -There is a need to design and test urban nutrition interventions that address both over and undernutrition (such as double-duty actions) in urban populations.

Year published

2024

Authors

Margolies, Amy; Amunga, Dorcas; Zerfu, Taddese; Ruel, Marie T.; Olney, Deanna K.

Citation

Margolies, Amy; Amunga, Dorcas; Zerfu, Taddese; Ruel, Marie; and Olney, Deanna. 2024. Resilient Cities urban nutrition profile: Ethiopia. Resilient Cities Country Profile. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute

Country/Region

Ethiopia

Keywords

Eastern Africa; Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Nutrition; Stunting; Children; Micronutrient Deficiencies; Diet; Rural Urban Relations; Food Safety

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Resilient Cities

Record type

Report

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Report

Resilient Cities urban nutrition profile: Bangladesh

2024Margolies, Amy; Choo, Esther; Singh, Nishmeet; Parvin, Aklima; Ruel, Marie T.; Olney, Deanna K.
Details

Resilient Cities urban nutrition profile: Bangladesh

Urban-rural disparities in undernutrition in children under five have dissipated. Stunting declined from 2014 to 2022 in both urban and rural areas, but more so in rural areas, leading to comparable rates of stunting in urban and rural areas (22 percent, 24 percent). Wasting remains “high” (according to the World Health Organization) in both urban and rural areas (11 percent). The prevalence of child overweight is low but increasing, especially in Dhaka. Vitamin A deficiency affects half of children under five. Vitamin D and iron deficiencies are higher in urban areas, with zinc and iodine deficiencies more prevalent in rural areas. Urban and rural diets lack fruits and vegetables. A third of urban households have inadequate caloric intake. The cost of a healthy diet increased from $3.03 to $3.64 per person per day from 2017– 2022 and the percentage of the population unable to afford a healthy diet fell from 65 to 48 percent. Currently, 82 million people are unable to afford a healthy diet in the country. The diet diversity of young children has improved since 2011, but gains were seen mostly in rural areas. The percentage of all children fed the minimum meal frequency dropped by 20 percentage points from 2017 to 2022. Urban informal settlements are a concern – children have higher rates of stunting, lower dietary diversity, and higher prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies compared to other urban children. Overweight and obesity in urban adults is a critical problem. More urban women (48 percent) are overweight compared to rural women (35 percent); the same is true for urban men (29 percent) compared to 17 percent for rural men. Some urban nutrition interventions to tackle child undernutrition are being implemented, but few have been rigorously evaluated. Data on urban food environments (FEs) is becoming more available, but there are gaps in knowledge, particularly on the design and evaluation of interventions to counter the influence of the country’s increasingly obesogenic urban FE. National policies include targeted actions to improve urban diets and nutrition. More could be done, however, to improve the healthiness and safety of FEs, leverage social protection programs for the urban poor to make healthy diets more affordable, and to implement double-duty actions to address all forms of malnutrition.

Year published

2024

Authors

Margolies, Amy; Choo, Esther; Singh, Nishmeet; Parvin, Aklima; Ruel, Marie T.; Olney, Deanna K.

Citation

Margolies, Amy; Choo, Esther; Singh, Nishmeet; Parvin, Aklima; Ruel, Marie; and Olney, Deanna. 2024. Resilient Cities urban nutrition profile: Bangladesh. Resilient Cities Country Profile. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute.

Country/Region

Bangladesh

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Rural Urban Relations; Nutrition; Children; Stunting; Non-communicable Diseases; Micronutrient Deficiencies; Food Prices; Dietary Diversity; Food Environment

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Sustainable Healthy Diets

Record type

Report

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Journal Article

The cost and cost-effectiveness of an integrated wasting prevention and screening intervention package in Burkina Faso and Mali

2024Brander, Rebecca L.; Puett, Chloe; Becquey, Elodie; Leroy, Jef L.; Ruel, Marie T.; Sessou, Fidele Eric; Huybregts, Lieven
Details

The cost and cost-effectiveness of an integrated wasting prevention and screening intervention package in Burkina Faso and Mali

Background Little is known about costs and cost-effectiveness of interventions that integrate wasting prevention into screening for child wasting. Objective This study’s objective was to estimate the cost and cost-effectiveness of an intervention that integrated behavior change communication (BCC) and small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements (SQ-LNS) into platforms for wasting screening in Burkina Faso (a facility-based platform, where BCC was enhanced compared to standard care) and Mali (a community-based platform, with standard BCC). Methods Activity-based costing was used to estimate the cost per child-contact for the intervention and the comparison group, which did not receive the intervention. Costs were ascertained from accounting records, interviews, surveys, and observations. The number of child-contacts were calculated using population size estimates and average attendance rates for each service. Costs per disability-adjusted life year (DALY) averted were estimated using a Markov model populated with data from the parent trials on impact on wasting incidence and treatment coverage. Results In the intervention group in Burkina Faso, the cost per child-contact of facility-based screening was $0.85, of enhanced BCC was $4.28, and of SQ-LNS was $8.86. In Mali, the cost per child-contact of community-based screening was $0.57, of standard BCC was $0.72, and of SQ-LNS was $4.14. Although no SQ-LNS costs were incurred in the comparison groups (hence lower total costs), costs per child-contact for screening and BCC were higher because coverage of these services was lower. The intervention package cost $1,073 per DALY averted in Burkina Faso and $747 in Mali. Conclusions Integration of wasting prevention into screening for child wasting led to higher total costs but lower unit costs than standard screening due to increased coverage. Greater cost-effectiveness could be achieved if BCC were strengthened and led to improved caregiver health and nutrition practices and if screening triggered appropriate use of services and higher treatment coverage.

Year published

2024

Authors

Brander, Rebecca L.; Puett, Chloe; Becquey, Elodie; Leroy, Jef L.; Ruel, Marie T.; Sessou, Fidele Eric; Huybregts, Lieven

Citation

Brander, Rebecca L.; Puett, Chloe; Becquey, Elodie; Leroy, Jef L.; Ruel, Marie T.; Sessou, Fidele Eric; and Huybregts, Lieven. 2024. The cost and cost-effectiveness of an integrated wasting prevention and screening intervention package in Burkina Faso and Mali. Journal of Nutrition 154(8): 2551-2565. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tjnut.2024.04.010

Country/Region

Burkina Faso; Mali

Keywords

Southern Africa; Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Malnutrition; Wasting Disease (nutritional Disorder); Economic Value; Cost Analysis; Screening; Supplementary Feeding; Lipids

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tjnut.2024.04.010 Source record

Project

Agriculture for Nutrition and Health

Record type

Journal Article

Blogs

World Food Day 2024: The critical role of healthy diets for realizing the right to food
IFPRI Blog
 | 
October 15, 2024

World Food Day 2024: The critical role of healthy diets for realizing the right to food

By Marie Ruel and Inge Brouwer

IFPRI’s 2024 Global Food Policy Report on a key paradigm shift.

Rising food prices are putting children in harm’s way
IFPRI Blog
 | 
February 29, 2024

Rising food prices are putting children in harm’s way

By Derek Headey and Marie Ruel

New evidence quantifies significant negative health effects.

Unlocking opportunities for planet-friendly school meals
IFPRI Blog
 | 
December 08, 2023

Unlocking opportunities for planet-friendly school meals

By Aulo Gelli and Marie Ruel

Balancing nutrition and climate.

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Events

Supporting and shaping the global nutrition agenda with evidence: A three-decade journey of research and partnerships for impact
IFPRI Policy Seminar

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October 30, 2024, 10:00 – 11:30 am

Supporting and shaping the global nutrition agenda with evidence: A three-decade journey of research and partnerships for impact

This year’s Forman Lecture will be delivered by Dr. Marie Ruel, Senior Research Fellow in the Nutrition, Diets, and Health Unit at IFPRI. She served as the Director of IFPRI’s Poverty, Health, and Nutrition Division from 2004 to 2023, after serving as Senior Research Fellow and Research Fellow in that division beginning in 1996. Dr. […]

2024 Global Food Policy Report: Improving Diets and Nutrition through Food Systems: What Will it Take?
IFPRI Policy Seminar

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May 29, 2024, 9:30 – 11:00 am

2024 Global Food Policy Report: Improving Diets and Nutrition through Food Systems: What Will it Take?

Hybrid Event: May 29, 2024 at 9:30am-11:00am EDT. IFPRI’s 2024 Global Food Policy Report on Food Systems for Healthy Diets, presents evidence-based policy and governance solutions to strengthen diet quality and nutrition in low- and middle-income countries, and examines priorities for future research on food systems for better nutrition.

My Reflections on Africa’s Year of Nutrition
IFPRI Policy Seminar

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December 12, 2022, 10:00 – 11:30 am

My Reflections on Africa’s Year of Nutrition

Virtual Event: December 12, 2022 – 10:00 AM- 11:30 AM EST. IFPRI is delighted to announce the 32nd Annual Martin J. Forman Memorial Lecture, which will be delivered by Her Excellency Minata Samaté Cessouma, the African Union Commissioner for Health, Humanitarian Affairs, and Social Development.

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News

September 20, 2023 | Press Release

New study reveals alarming impact of food inflation on child undernutrition in low and middle-income countries

September 20, 2023, Washington, DC: A new study published in Nature Communications sheds light on the critical relationship between food inflation and child undernutrition in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). The study, conducted by Derek Headey and Marie Ruel of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), explores the impact of food price volatility on […]

January 03, 2023 | In the News

Food price spike may fuel nutrition crisis (The Nation) 

Growing food crises with spiking prices will have an impact on poor and food insecure populations writes the Nation (Nigeria), quoting a recent analysis by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) which notes that food inflation poses larger wasting risks for children of poor and landless rural households, exacerbating existing inequalities.  According to IFPRI, food prices […]

December 10, 2020 | In the News

Covid-19 and the irreversible marks undernutrition will leave in its wake (Poshan Outlook)

Poshan Outlook (India) published an op-ed by Poverty, Heath, and Nutrition Division Director Marie Ruel and Senior Research Fellow, Jef Leroy that stated one of the key objectives of India’s Covid-19 mitigation efforts is to prevent child undernutrition now rather than to treat it later, without compromising on maternal, child health and nutrition services. What started as a health crisis has developed into a […]

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