Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
Published: March 2013
Several aid groups have proposed strategies for allocating ready-to-use (therapeutic and supplementary) foods to children in developing countries. Analysis is needed to investigate whether there are better alternatives. We use a longitudinal dataset of 5,657 children from Bwamanda to construct a bivariate time-series model that tracks each child's height-for-age z score (HAZ) and weight-for-height z score (WHZ) throughout the first 5 y of life. Our optimization model chooses which individual children should receive ready-to-use therapeutic or supplementary food based on a child's sex, age, HAZ, and WHZ, to minimize the mean number of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) per child during 6-60 mo of age [which includes childhood mortality calculated from a logistic regression and the lifelong effects of stunting (i.e., low HAZ)] subject to a budget constraint. Compared with the strategies proposed by the aid groups, which do not use HAZ information, the simple strategy arising from our analysis [which prioritizes children according to low values of a linear combination of HAZ, WHZ, and age and allocates the entire budget to therapeutic (i.e., 500 kcal/d) food for the prioritized children] reduces the number of DALYs by 9% (for the same budget) or alternatively incurs the same number of DALYs with a 61% reduction in cost. Whereas our qualitative conclusions appear to be robust, the quantitative results derived from our analysis should be treated with caution because of the lack of reliable data on the impact of supplementary food on HAZ and WHZ, the application of our model to a single cohort of children and the inclusion and exclusion errors related to imperfect food targeting.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1216075110 | DOI Listing |
BMC Public Health
December 2024
Department of Nutrition Research, National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute, Faculty of Nutrition Sciences and Food Technology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Background: Childhood malnutrition remains a critical public health challenge in low- and middle-income countries, contributing significantly to morbidity and mortality among children aged 2-5 years. This study was undertaken to assess the nutritional status of 2-5 y children and to explore the main determinants of child malnutrition in eight food insecure provinces of Iran.
Methods: In each province, participants were invited to attend the health house/center to complete the questionnaire on the pre-appointed day.
PLoS One
October 2024
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) East Asia Pacific Regional Office, Bangkok, Thailand.
Globally and in Timor-Leste, wasting and stunting remain major public health problems among 'under five years children, but the interrelationship between the two has been poorly investigated. A better understanding of this interrelationship is a prerequisite to improving wasting and stunting programming. In our study, we assessed the influence of age on the prevalence of wasting and stunting, the overlap between the two conditions, and the effect of wasting parameters on linear growth catch-up using the data of 401 children recruited at 0 to 54 months of age [median (IQR) of 17 (7-32) months] with repeated anthropometric assessments [median (IQR) follow-up time was 25 (16-39) months].
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Public Health
October 2024
Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska-Fairbanks, Fairbanks, USA.
Background: Household-level food safety practices may have a long-term outcome on the nutrition and health status of under-five children. This study explores the relationships between caregivers' self-reported food safety knowledge, behavior, perception of food safety control, and their young child's (< 5 years) nutrition status.
Methods: In a cross-sectional study design, 664 caregivers from five Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Ibadan, Nigeria were surveyed using an interviewer-administered questionnaire on their food safety knowledge, behavior and perceived food safety control.
Lancet Planet Health
October 2024
Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Fajara, The Gambia; Centre on Climate Change and Planetary Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
Front Pediatr
August 2024
Department of Cardiac Surgery, Fujian Children's Hospital (Fujian Branch of Shanghai Children's Medical Center), Fuzhou, China.
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