The role of fathers and care-giving arrangements in informal settlements in Kenya and Ethiopia.

Introduction: Quality childcare has been associated with multiple long-term benefits for children including improved school readiness, better educational outcomes and improved health and productivity. Evidence suggests that returns on investment are much higher when targeted at the youngest children, especially during the first 1,000 days. Despite the evidence and the ever-increasing need and potential benefits, investments made so far to make high-quality childcare accessible to the neediest families are not commensurate.

Wealth and obesity in pre-adolescents and their guardians: A first step in explaining non-communicable disease-related behaviour in two areas of Nairobi City County.

The prevalence of non-communicable diseases is increasing in lower-middle-income countries as these countries transition to unhealthy lifestyles. The transition is mostly predominant in urban areas. We assessed the association between wealth and obesity in two sub-counties in Nairobi City County, Kenya, in the context of family and poverty.

Improving early childhood development in the context of the nurturing care framework in Kenya: A policy review and qualitative exploration of emerging issues with policy makers.

Introduction: The Nurturing Care Framework (NCF) describes "nurturing care" as the ability of nations and communities to support caregivers and provide an environment that ensures children's good health and nutrition, protects them from threats, and provides opportunities for early learning through responsive and emotionally supportive interaction. We assessed the extent to which Kenyan government policies address the components of the NCF and explored policy/decision makers' views on policy gaps and emerging issues.

Methods: A search strategy was formulated to identify policy documents focusing on early childhood development (ECD), health and nutrition, responsive caregiving, opportunities for early learning and security and safety, which are key components of the NCF.

Development and convergent validity of new self-administered questionnaires of active transportation in three African countries: Kenya, Mozambique and Nigeria.

Background: There is currently a rapid physical activity transition taking place in developing countries that includes a decrease in active transportation. Building on findings from an earlier systematic review, this paper describes the development and convergent validity of self-administered child and parent questionnaires assessing active transportation of children in three African countries: Kenya, Mozambique and Nigeria.

Methods: A pilot study was conducted to examine the convergent validity of the developed questionnaires by comparing responses between children and their parents (N = 121; n = 43 for Mozambique, n = 24 for Kenya and n = 54 for Nigeria).