Short Biography
Fahmida Akter is a socially conscious and motivated public health nutrition researcher dedicated to addressing malnutrition, hunger, and food insecurity while promoting ecologically sustainable solutions. Her work focuses on food environments, food security, nutrition-sensitive approaches, dietary behavior, and diet-related noncommunicable diseases.
She has extensive experience designing and implementing public health nutrition studies both independently and in collaborative teams and holds degrees in Nutrition and Food Science as well as Global Food Security and Development. Over the past decade, she has led and contributed to implementation and evaluation research projects, resulting in 22 peer-reviewed journal articles and more than 20 research reports, policy briefs, and book chapters.
Fahmida has been internationally recognized with competitive scholarships, including the Commonwealth Shared Scholarship (2018) and the Orange Knowledge Programme (2022). She is currently pursuing a PhD in Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior while serving as a Graduate Research Assistant at the Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina.
MPH Modules Conducted
- Ageing, NCD and Health
Current Projects
- Addressing gaps in the hypertension and diabetes care continuum in rural Bangladesh through mHealth and decentralized primary care: The Dinajpur Study
- Realizing gender equality, attitudinal change and transformative systems in nutrition
- Evaluation on 360 Degree NCD Care project
- Baseline and endline evaluation for strengthening community clinics and char-based healthcare access with remote maternal services
- Bangladesh Nutrient Profile Model (NPM): a tool to classify foods and non-alcoholic beverages high in saturated fatty acids, trans-fatty acids, free sugars and salt (HFSS foods)
- Adaptation of the WHO South-East Asia Region Sodium benchmarks for packaged foods in Bangladesh
Awards
- Commonwealth Shared Scholarship 2018 funded by FCDO, UK
- Orange Knowledge Programme (OKP) Scholarship by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Netherlands
- ‘Best poster presentation (research)’ in Delivering for Nutrition in South Asia: Equity and Inclusion,’ (D4N2023) Conference, Kathmandu, Nepal
Research Focus
Food environment Dietary behavior Diet-related non-communicable diseases Food Security Nutrition-sensitive approaches Public health nutrition
Education
- Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Food Science, Institute of Nutrition and Food Science, University of Dhaka
- Master of Science in Nutrition and Food Science, Institute of Nutrition and Food Science, University of Dhaka
- Master of Science in Global Food Security and Development, Nottingham Trent University