Dr. Sufia Askari is a global health and nutrition leader with more than 20 years of experience shaping policies, leading large-scale programmes, and advancing innovative solutions to improve the health and nutrition of women and children across Asia and Africa. A medical doctor and public health specialist, she brings together scientific expertise, strategic leadership, and a deep understanding of health systems and innovative financing, helping translate evidence into sustainable impact at scale.
As Managing Director of Sight and Life Foundation, Dr. Askari leads the organisation’s efforts to transform nutrition outcomes through science-driven, locally led, and market-based approaches. Her leadership focuses on bridging the gap between evidence and implementation, bringing together governments, the private sector, and communities to develop sustainable business models, strengthen financing mechanisms, and expand access to essential nutrition interventions.
Previously, Dr. Askari held senior leadership and technical roles with UNICEF, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), and Save the Children. Her career spans some of the most pressing challenges in maternal, newborn, and child health and nutrition, including the scale-up of programmes addressing severe acute malnutrition(SAM), neonatal care, Integrated Management of Newborn and Childhood Illness (IMNCI), micronutrient interventions, and health systems strengthening. She has played a leading role in designing and scaling major national and global initiatives, including strengthening facility based newborn care in India and Africa, designing the Child Nutrition Fund, social protection programs alongside providing strategic leadership in developing innovative financing mechanisms and sustainable delivery models for nutrition.
Having worked extensively across South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, including India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, and Rwanda, as well as in fragile and complex settings such as North Korea and Sierra Leone, Dr. Askari brings a deep understanding of how to translate global evidence into country-led solutions across diverse contexts. Her experience encompasses policy and strategy development, large-scale programme implementation, research, innovative financing, and partnerships across the public, philanthropic, and private sectors.
Dr. Askari has contributed to scientific research and publications, including in The Lancet, and serves in technical and advisory capacities on global maternal and child health and nutrition initiatives. She holds a medical degree, a Master of Public Health, qualifications in hospital and healthcare management, and executive leadership training from the University of Oxford. She received multiple gold medals for academic excellence during her medical training.
Throughout her career, she has championed an approach that places women, children, and communities at the centre of solutions, combining scientific evidence, innovative financing, and practical delivery models to achieve lasting impact
