Latifat Okara | Principal, Health Policy & Insights
Economist Impact

Latifat is the Principal for Health Policy and Insights for the Americas at Economist Impact. Working with a diverse team, she directs and executes top-tier, data-driven research and health policy analysis projects that encompass the public and private sectors of the global health ecosystem. Latifat possesses a wealth of experience spanning 15 years working in the energy sector and international development. Her work has focused on multi-level health initiatives that involve technical research, systems thinking, stakeholder engagements, and organisational strategy to achieve population-level impact. Before joining The Economist Group, Latifat was Country Engagement Lead at the World Bank, where she led country governments to conduct a comparative situational analysis of Primary Health Care across countries in Africa, South Asia, and the Pacific Island regions. She was also Field Operations Manager at the Academic Public Health Corps, where she supported local boards of health within Massachusetts to advance health equity. Latifat has authored several thought-provoking research papers on critical topics like maternal nutrition, nutrition financing, and health system strengthening in impactful publications, including the British Medical Journal. In 2022, the New York City Daily recognized her as one of the "40 under 40 Public Health Catalysts", an award given by the Boston Congress of Public Health. She is a member of the American Society of Nutrition and the Harvard Club of Washington. Latifat holds an MPH in Public Health from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a Bachelor of Science degree in Microbiology from Benson Idahosa University. She is a Doctor of Public Health candidate in Health Policy and Leadership at Loma Linda University.