Malnutrition is a major public health concern in Pakistan. The country has the world’s third highest rate of stunting in children under the age of five and one in three of the country’s children are underweight. 

The K43 grant from the Fogarty International Center, the global health research arm of America’s National Institutes of Health (NIH), will enable Dr Iqbal to pursue a three-year study into how an individual’s microbiome – the collection of bacteria in the gut - can influence normal or abnormal growth during childhood. The award will see Dr Iqbal work with Washington University’s Professor Jeffrey Gordon, who is renowned for his innovations in microbiome and under-nutrition research.

Dr Najeeha Iqbal, who holds a joint appointment in the departments of paediatrics and child health, and biological & biomedical sciences, has worked under the mentorship of Dr Asad Ali, an associate professor in paediatrics and child health at AKU, on studies under the SEEM (Study of Environmental Enteropathy and Malnutrition in Pakistan) grant funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. 

Research studies at AKU have already generated insights about how malnourished children have a different set of bacteria in their stomach that can cause EED (environmental enteric dysfunction) – a syndrome that compromises growth potential and immunity against illness. 

By assessing over 3,000 samples from malnourished children in Pakistan, AKU researchers will create a profile of an ‘unhealthy’ microbiome. The award will see this data be analysed against the gut profile of healthy children in the developing world in collaboration with researchers at Washington University.

“EED is one of the leading causes of malnutrition and stunting in Pakistan. This award will enable me to work with researchers at Washington University’s laboratory to identify the group of bacteria responsible for growth faltering in children and to explore microbiota-based interventions that can stop the disease in its tracks,” Dr Iqbal stated. 

Research under the award corresponds with special targets under goal 2 of the global Sustainable Development Goals:  end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture. Targets under goal 2.1 call for special efforts to end all forms of malnutrition and stunting in children under the age of five by 2030.

Dr Iqbal is one of twelve recipients of the 2017 Emerging Global Leaders Award​ which will provide US$ 5 million in funding to research scientists working in low and middle income countries.