55 results match your criteria: "Leverhulme Centre for Integrative Research on Agriculture and Health[Affiliation]"

Background: Gender shapes household decision-making and access for nutritious diets, including animal source foods (ASFs) that impact on child health and nutrition status. However, research shows that the poorest households in the urban informal settlements of Nairobi have low ASFs consumption. This study was conducted to explore further from a qualitative perspective the gender, sociocultural factors affecting household ASF consumption this study.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Quantifying the Relationship between Antibiotic Use in Food-Producing Animals and Antibiotic Resistance in Humans.

Antibiotics (Basel)

January 2022

Centre for the Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases (CMMID), Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health, The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT, UK.

It is commonly asserted that agricultural production systems must use fewer antibiotics in food-producing animals in order to mitigate the global spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). In order to assess the cost-effectiveness of such interventions, especially given the potential trade-off with rural livelihoods, we must quantify more precisely the relationship between food-producing animal antimicrobial use and AMR in humans. Here, we outline and compare methods that can be used to estimate this relationship, calling on key literature in this area.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Fruit and vegetable (F&V) consumption is of central importance to many diet-related health outcomes. In India, caste is a major basis of socioeconomic inequality. Recent analysis shows that more disadvantaged "lower" castes consume less F&V than the rest.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A Qualitative Analysis of the Commercial Broiler System, and the Links to Consumers' Nutrition and Health, and to Environmental Sustainability: A South African Case Study.

Front Sustain Food Syst

May 2021

Department of Pathobiology and Population Sciences, Veterinary Epidemiology, Economics and Public Health (VEEPH) Research Centre, Royal Veterinary College, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom.

Food systems face growing challenges to meet targets of Zero Hunger (SDG 2), and South Africa is no exception given its triple burden of malnutrition, foodborne disease outbreaks, and threats of climate change to food production. Broiler meat is South Africa's most affordable meat option, supporting household food and nutrition security. Although considered healthier and less environmentally harmful than ruminant meat, it is not without food safety risks and environmental impacts.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A systems analysis and conceptual system dynamics model of the livestock-derived food system in South Africa: A tool for policy guidance.

J Agric Food Syst Community Dev

August 2020

Veterinary Epidemiology, Economics and Public Health (VEEPH) Research Centre, Department of Pathobiology and Population Sciences, Royal Veterinary College, Hawkshead Lane, North Mymms, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, AL9 7TA, United Kingdom.

Global food production systems are currently under scrutiny, in particular the health, nutrition, and environmental impacts of livestock-derived food (LDF). Despite South Africa's recent socio-economic transformation and increased per-capita LDF consumption, the triple burden of malnutrition persists. Policy responses to such complex problems often fail because of linear thinking with short-term goals.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Agricultural water requirements differ between foods. Population-level dietary preferences are therefore a major determinant of agricultural water use. The "water footprint" (WF) represents the volume of water consumed in the production of food items, separated by water source; blue WF represents ground and surface water use, and green WF represents rain water use.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The RISKSUR EVA tool (Survtool): A tool for the integrated evaluation of animal health surveillance systems.

Prev Vet Med

December 2019

Veterinary Epidemiology, Economics and Public Health Group and Leverhulme Centre for Integrative Research on Agriculture and Health, Department of Pathobiology and Population Sciences, Royal Veterinary College, Hawkshead Lane, North Mymms, Hatfield AL9 7TA, UK.

Information about infectious diseases at the global level relies on effective, efficient and sustainable national and international surveillance systems. Surveillance systems need to be regularly evaluated to ensure their performance, the quality of the data and information provided, as well as to allocate resources efficiently. Currently available frameworks for evaluation of surveillance systems in animal or human health often treat technical, process and socio-economic aspects separately instead of integrating them.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) are crucial in the global response to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), but diverse health systems, healthcare practices and cultural conceptions of medicine can complicate global education and awareness-raising campaigns. Social research can help understand LMIC contexts but remains under-represented in AMR research.

Objective: To (1) Describe antibiotic-related knowledge, attitudes and practices of the general population in two LMICs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To identify opportunities and challenges for the promotion of healthy, sustainable oil consumption in India.

Design: We use a framework for policy space analysis which distinguishes between policy context, process and characteristics.

Setting: We focus on the Indian edible oils sector and on factors shaping the policy space at a national level.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Rapid economic growth, urbanization, and globalization have resulted in dietary transformation in India. Triple burden of malnutrition remains a significant concern, with high prevalence of undernutrition, widespread micronutrient deficiencies, and rising obesity.

Objective: This article reviews the dietary transition in India by analyzing trends in food consumption across time and space.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Greenhouse gas emissions and water footprints of typical dietary patterns in India.

Sci Total Environ

December 2018

Department of Population Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, UK; Leverhulme Centre for Integrative Research on Agriculture and Health (LCIRAH), 36 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PD, UK.

Agriculture is a major contributor to India's environmental footprint, particularly through greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from livestock and fresh water used for irrigation. These impacts are likely to increase in future as agriculture attempts to keep pace with India's growing population and changing dietary preferences. Within India there is considerable dietary variation, and this study therefore aimed to quantify the GHG emissions and water usage associated with distinct dietary patterns.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Campylobacteriosis is a leading foodborne zoonosis worldwide, and is frequently associated with handling and consumption of poultry meat. Various studies indicate that Campylobacter causes a substantial human disease burden in low to middle-income countries, but data regarding the organism's epidemiology in countries like Kenya are scarce. In sub-Saharan Africa, 3.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The aquaculture sector in Bangladesh is an important employer and a significant source of foreign exchange. In addition, it contributes significantly to food security due to the role of fish in peoples' diets, the most important source of protein and micronutrients. However, infectious diseases represent an important barrier to sector development due to economic losses and vulnerability of smallholders.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The broiler meat system in Nairobi, Kenya: Using a value chain framework to understand animal and product flows, governance and sanitary risks.

Prev Vet Med

November 2017

Royal Veterinary College (RVC), Hawkshead Lane, Hatfield, AL9 7TA, United Kingdom; Institute of Infection and Global Health, University of Liverpool, Leahurst Campus, Chester High Road, Neston, CH64 7TE, United Kingdom.

Livestock food systems play key subsistence and income generation roles in low to middle income countries and are important networks for zoonotic disease transmission. The aim of this study was to use a value chain framework to characterize the broiler chicken meat system of Nairobi, its governance and sanitary risks. A total of 4 focus groups and 8 key informant interviews were used to collect cross-sectional data from: small-scale broiler farmers in selected Nairobi peri-urban and informal settlement areas; medium to large integrated broiler production companies; traders and meat inspectors in live chicken and chicken meat markets in Nairobi.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The subsidisation of mosquito nets has been widely used to increase ownership in countries where malaria represents a public health problem. However, an important question that has not been addressed empirically is how far net subsidy programmes increase ownership above the level that would have prevailed in the absence of the subsidy (i.e.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The availability of freshwater for irrigation in the Indian agricultural sector is expected to decline over the coming decades. This might have implications for food production in India, with subsequent effects on diets and health. We identify realistic and healthy dietary changes that could enhance the resilience of the Indian food system to future decreases in water availability.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Using local language syndromic terminology in participatory epidemiology: Lessons for One Health practitioners among the Maasai of Ngorongoro, Tanzania.

Prev Vet Med

April 2017

Department of Production and Population Health, Royal Veterinary College, University of London, London, United Kingdom; Leverhulme Centre for Integrative Research on Agriculture and Health (LCIRAH) Royal Veterinary College, University of London, London, United Kingdom.

Pastoralists and agro-pastoralists often occupy remote and hostile environments, which lack infrastructure and capacity in human and veterinary healthcare and disease surveillance systems. Participatory epidemiology (PE) and Participatory Disease Surveillance (PDS) are particularly useful in situations of resource scarcity, where conventional diagnostics and surveillance data of disease prevalence may be intermittent or limited. Livestock keepers, when participating in PE studies about health issues, commonly use their local language terms, which are often syndromic and descriptive in nature.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The water use of Indian diets and socio-demographic factors related to dietary blue water footprint.

Sci Total Environ

June 2017

Department of Population Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, UK; Leverhulme Centre for Integrative Research on Agriculture and Health (LCIRAH), 36 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PD, UK.

Agriculture accounts for ~90% of India's fresh water use, and there are concerns that future food production will be threatened by insufficient water supply of adequate quality. This study aimed to quantify the water required in the production of diets in India using the water footprint (WF) assessment method. The socio-demographic associations of dietary WFs were explored using mixed effects regression models with a particular focus on blue (irrigation) WF given the importance for Indian agriculture.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Agriculture is a major source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions globally. The growing global population is putting pressure on agricultural production systems that aim to secure food production while minimising GHG emissions. In this study, the GHG emissions associated with the production of major food commodities in India are calculated using the Cool Farm Tool.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Food production is a major driver of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and other environmental footprints, and dietary risk factors are contributors to non-communicable diseases. A growing body of evidence has shown that changes in what and how much we eat can offer benefits for both the environment and health. However, several data gaps and complexities remain in this research area.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Successful integration of nutrition interventions into large-scale development programmes from nutrition-relevant sectors, such as agriculture, can address critical underlying determinants of undernutrition and enhance the coverage and effectiveness of on-going nutrition-specific activities. However, evidence on how this can be done is limited. This study examines the feasibility of delivering maternal, infant, and young child nutrition behaviour change communication through an innovative agricultural extension programme serving nutritionally vulnerable groups in rural India.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A One Health approach to antimicrobial resistance surveillance: is there a business case for it?

Int J Antimicrob Agents

October 2016

Veterinary Epidemiology, Economics and Public Health Group, Department of Production and Population Health, Royal Veterinary College, Hawkshead Lane, North Mymms, Hatfield, Hertfordshire AL9 7TA, UK.

Antimicrobial resistance is a global problem of complex epidemiology, suited to a broad, integrated One Health approach. Resistant organisms exist in humans, animals, food and the environment, and the main driver of this resistance is antimicrobial usage. A One Health conceptual framework for surveillance is presented to include all of these aspects.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF