The aim of this study was to describe current infant growth patterns using World Health Organization Child Growth Standards and to determine the extent to which these patterns are associated with infant feeding practices, equity dimensions, morbidity and use of primary health care for the infants. A cross-sectional survey of infant feeding practices, socio-economic characteristics and anthropometric measurements was conducted in Mbale District, Eastern Uganda in 2003 with 723 mother-infant pairs. The prevalences of wasting and stunting were 4.2% and 16.7%, respectively. The adjusted analysis for stunting showed associations with age and gender – it was more prevalent among boys than girls (58.7% versus 41.3%). Sub-optimal infant feeding practices after birth, poor household wealth, age, gender and family size were associated with growth among Ugandan infants.
Poverty and health
The aim of this study was to describe current infant growth patterns using WHO Child Growth Standards and to determine the extent to which these patterns are associated with infant feeding practices, equity dimensions, morbidity and use of primary health care for the infants. A cross-sectional survey of infant feeding practices, socio-economic characteristics and anthropometric measurements was conducted in Mbale District, Eastern Uganda in 2003; 723 mother-infant (0-11 months) pairs were analysed. The adjusted analysis for stunting showed stunting was more prevalent among boys (58.7% versus 41.3%). Having brothers and/or sisters was a protective factor against stunting, but replacement or mixed feeding was not. Lowest household wealth was the most prominent factor associated with stunting with a more than three-fold increase in odds ratio. In conclusion, stunting is related to sub-optimal infant feeding practices after birth, poor household wealth, age, gender and family size.
Northern Botswana holds the largest population of African elephants in the world, and in the eastern Okavango Panhandle, 16,000 people share and compete for resources with more than 11,000 elephants. Hence, it is not surprising this area represents a human-elephant conflict (HEC) ‘hotspot’ in the region. Crop-raiding impacts lead to negative perceptions of elephants by local communities, which can strongly undermine conservation efforts. The authors investigated the trend in the number of reported raiding incidents as one of the indicators of the level of HEC, and assessed its relationship to trends in human and elephant population size, as well as land-use in the study area from the 1970s to 2015. They found that the level of reported crop raiding by elephants in the eastern Panhandle appears to have decreased since 2008, which seems to be related more to the reduction in agricultural land allocated to people in recent years, more than the human and elephant population size. Although the study represents a first step in developing a HEC baseline in the eastern Panhandle, it highlights the need for additional multi-scale analyses that consider progress in conservation conflict to better understand and predict drivers of HEC in the region.
School-based health and nutrition interventions in developing countries aim at improving children’s nutrition and learning ability. In addition to the food and health inputs, children need access to education that is relevant to their lives, of good quality, and effective in its approach. Based on evidence from the Zambia Nutrition Education in Basic Schools (NEBS) project, this article examines whether and to what extent school-based health and nutrition education can contribute directly to improving the health and nutrition behaviors of school children. Initial results suggest that gains in awareness, knowledge and behavior can be achieved among children and their families with an actively implemented classroom program backed by teacher training and parent involvement, even in the absence of school-based nutrition and health services.
Many children younger than 5 years in developing countries are exposed to multiple risks, including poverty, malnutrition, poor health, and unstimulating home environments, which detrimentally affect their cognitive, motor, and social-emotional development. There are few national statistics on the development of young children in developing countries. We therefore identified two factors with available worldwide data—the prevalence of early childhood stunting and the number of people living in absolute poverty—to use as indicators of poor development. We show that both indicators are closely associated with poor cognitive and educational performance in children and use them to estimate that over 200 million children under 5 years are not fulfilling their developmental potential. Most of these children live in south
Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. These disadvantaged children are likely to do poorly in school and subsequently have low incomes, high fertility, and provide poor care for their children, thus contributing to the intergenerational transmission of poverty.
Research into childhood diarrhoea has declined since the 1980s, keeping pace with dwindling funds for a disease that nonetheless accounts for 20% of all child deaths, the WHO said. Funds available for research into diarrhoea are much lower than those devoted to other diseases that cause comparatively few deaths. Nearly two million children die of diarrhoea each year, even though treating the ailment is relatively simple. WHO estimates some 50 million children have been saved thanks to the Oral Rehydration Solution mixture (salt, sugar, cleam water), which costs about (US)25c per child. The international Red Cross also warned that diarrhoeal diseases, such as cholera, are on the rise and increasingly a major cause of diseases and deaths throughout the world.
This report lays out a seven-point plan that includes a treatment package to reduce childhood diarrhoea deaths and a prevention strategy to ensure long-term results: fluid replacement to prevent dehydration; zinc treatment; rotavirus and measles vaccinations; promotion of early and exclusive breastfeeding and vitamin A supplementation; promotion of hand washing with soap; improved water supply quantity and quality, including treatment and safe storage of household water; and community-wide sanitation promotion. Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization, said: ‘We know where children are dying of diarrhoea. We know what must be done to prevent those deaths. We must work with governments and partners to put this seven-point plan into action.’ Yet, despite the known benefits of improving water supply and sanitation, some 88% of diarrhoeal diseases worldwide are attributable to unsafe water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene. As of 2006, an estimated 2.5 billion people were not using improved sanitation facilities, and nearly one in every four people in developing countries was practicing open defecation.
This paper considers the question of dietary diversity as a proxy for nutrition insecurity in communities living in the inner city and the urban informal periphery in Johannesburg. It argues that the issue of nutrition insecurity demands urgent and immediate attention by policy makers. A cross-sectional survey was undertaken for households from urban informal and urban formal areas in Johannesburg, South Africa. Foods consumed by the respondents the previous day were used to calculate a Dietary Diversity Score. Respondents from informal settlements consumed mostly cereals and meat/poultry/fish, while respondents in formal settlements consumed a more varied diet. Significantly more respondents living in informal settlements consumed a diet of low diversity versus those in formal settlements. When grouped in quintiles, two-thirds of respondents from informal settlements fell in the lowest two, versus 15% living in formal settlements. Respondents in the informal settlements were more nutritionally vulnerable.
Mortality rates for older persons in Botswana have been unavailable and little is known of predictors of mortality in old age. This study may serve as a precursor for more detailed assessments. The objective was to assess diminished function and lack of social support as indicators of short term risk of death. Older community dwelling persons with diminished cognitive or physical function, solitary daily meals and living in a small household have a significantly increased risk of rapid deterioration and death. Health policy should include measures to strengthen informal support and expand formal service provisions to older persons with poor function and limited social networks in order to prevent premature deaths.
According to this paper, development aid and policy discussions often assume that poorer countries have less internal capacity for redistribution in favour of their poorest citizens. The author tested this assumption for 90 developing countries. He found that most countries fall into one of two groups: those with little or no realistic prospect of addressing extreme poverty through redistribution from the wealthy, and those that would appear to have ample scope for such redistribution. He found that increased per capita income tends to move countries from the first group to the second. The author argues that the marginal tax rates needed to fill the poverty gap for the international poverty line of $1.25 a day are clearly prohibitive (marginal tax rates of 100% or more) for the majority of countries with consumption per capita under $2,000 per year at 2005 PPP. Even covering half the poverty gap would require prohibitive marginal tax rates in the majority of poor countries. Yet amongst better-off developing countries—over $4,000 per year (say)—the marginal tax rates needed for substantial pro-poor redistribution are very small—less than 1% on average, and under 6% in all cases. He found that economic growth tends to move countries from the first group to the second, concluding that the appropriate balance between growth and redistribution strategies can be seen to depend on the level of economic development.