BROADCASTS.com

Children in Malawi, Zambia, and Rwanda are suffering from malnutrition. As a major agricultural state, Iowa has the resources, techniques, and experience to assist in such countries. The talk focuses on a range of communication supports for 'Scaling Up Nutrition' (or SUN), an initiative started in 2009. SUN programs have particular emphasis on the policies of national nutrition strategies in countries in Africa, supporting the '1000 Days' concept to prevent childhood stunting. Professor Gleason received his Ph.D. in Mass Communication here at Iowa. While here he focused on Communication for International Development, an emphasis that later evolved into a graduate program. Currently, he is Director of Communication for the International Nutrition Foundation, and is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, near Boston, where he lives with his wife. Professor Gleason joined UNICEF after graduating and began a career as a UN staff member and consultant. His work assignments took him to over 30 countries in Africa, the Middle-East, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Far East. Through his affiliation with the International Nutrition Foundation, since 1998 he has been a global leader in the prevention of iron deficiency anemia and universal iodization of salt. Gleason has applied his expertise in communication to a diverse range of development assistance including project design and evaluation, national policy development, design of information systems for decision-making, agriculture, child and maternal health, water, hygiene and sanitation, and primary education for HIV/AIDS. More information on the Iowa City Foreign Relations Council can be found here.