Dr. Nazeer Ahmed
Biography
Dr. Nazeer Ahmed is the Chief of the Nutrition Section at the Ministry of Planning Development and Special Initiatives (MoPDSI), Government of Pakistan, with nearly 18 years of experience in policy planning, program development, monitoring and evaluation, and establishing governance structures. He has initiated numerous nutrition improvement projects, strategies, and plans, coordinating and providing technical support to federal, provincial, and other nutrition stakeholders. His advocacy has institutionalized nutrition policy planning and programming at the national, provincial, and regional levels, enabling effective multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder collaboration.
Dr. Ahmed has introduced a model of public financing investment for nutrition and a system for monitoring nutrition investment projects in both public and private sectors, essential for appraising nutrition programs. He has been the lead in developing key policy documents such as the Pakistan Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Strategy (2018-2025), five-year plans, growth strategies, and annual plans for the Planning Commission.
He is the co-author of the Pakistan Dietary Guidelines for Better Nutrition and has supervised studies on research needs assessment, module development, and capacity-building workshops on research methodologies for Training of Trainers (ToT) in universities. He also designed and supervised the revision of the National Food Composition Table based on 12 ecological zones of Pakistan.
His work includes key projects like Vitamin A & D fortification of edible oil, the Pakistan Nutrition Project, salt iodization, nutrition awareness, and programs to improve the nutritional status of poor families. Dr. Ahmed's contributions to Early Childhood Development (ECD) include the ECD National Policy Framework, ECD standards and index, ECD mapping exercises, and the establishment of ECD governance structures such as the high-level national ECD steering committee and technical working group.
He holds a PhD in Food Sciences and Nutrition and has attended international training and workshops in food security and nutrition.