scholarly journals WHO child growth standards for Pygmies: one size fits all?

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan M. Funk ◽  
Belén Palomo Guerra ◽  
Amy Ickowitz ◽  
Nicias Afoumpam Poni ◽  
Mohamadou Aminou Abdou ◽  
...  

AbstractBackgroundAfrican Pygmies exhibit a unique, genetically determined child growth dynamics and adult stature but the impact on assessing undernutrition remains unknown. Baka Pygmy health is highly compromised compared to sympatric populations. Evaluating child undernutrition is an important step to address this health quandry. We estimate stunting and wasting in Cameroon’s Baka children and investigate the applicability of the standards for Pygmy people.MethodsAnthropometric and health data from 685 2-to12 year old children were collected at 25 health centres in southern Cameroon. Growth was analysed using both, WHO Child Growth Standards and the population itself as reference to define frequencies of stunting, wasting and obesity.FindingsBaka children revealed with 68.4% the highest recorded level globally of stunting relative to the WHO child growth standard in 2-to-4 year olds. Wasting was at 8.2% in the upper third range in Sub-Saharan Africa. Obesity was with 6.5% similar to wasting, but no comparable data have been published for Sub-Saharan Africa. When referenced to the Baka population itself, values for stunting were dramatically lower at 1.0% and 2.9% for 2-to-4 and 5-to-12 year olds, respectively. Wasting was also lower at 2.8% and 1.8% and was exceeded by obesity at 3.4% and 3.5%, respectively. Brachial perimeters and oedemas indicated rare severe malnutrition (< 2%) whilst moderate and severe anaemia were frequent (26.6% and 3.3%, respectively).InterpretationWHO child growth standards for stunting are clearly not applicable to Pygmies thus contradicting the widespread emphasis of their ethnicity-independent applicability. The inferred values for wasting and obesity are also difficult to interpret and are likely overestimated by the WHO criteria. To achieve UN Sustainable Development Goals and to fulfil our humanitarian responsibility for fellow man, we recommend that Pygmy specific growth standards are developed for the genetically differing Pygmy tribes.

2007 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
C Lopriore ◽  
M-C Dop ◽  
A Solal-Céligny ◽  
G Lagnado

AbstractObjectiveInfants aged 0–5 months are not systematically included in assessments of child nutritional status and are generally excluded from surveys conducted in emergencies. We estimated the impact of excluding 0–5-month-old infants on the prevalence of stunting, wasting and underweight among children under 5 years (U5) and under 3 years (U3) of age.DesignComparison of the prevalence of stunting, wasting and underweight in U5 and U3 with or without inclusion of the age group 0–5 months.SettingDemographic and Health Surveys and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys from 76 developing countries and countries in transition.SubjectsChildren under 3 or under 5 years of age included in the surveys.ResultsExcluding 0–5-month-old infants resulted in an overestimation of the prevalence of stunting, wasting and underweight in U5 of 3.0, 0.3 and 2.6 percentage points, respectively, and of 4.8, 1.0 and 5.2 percentage points, respectively, in U3. The overestimation for wasting was negligible. The regions showing the highest overestimations for stunting and underweight were Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Overall, countries with high prevalences of stunting and underweight showed especially large overestimations. The prevalence of underweight in infants aged 0–5 months was correlated with the prevalence of low maternal body mass index.ConclusionAll surveys, even in situations of nutrition emergency, should include 0–5-month-old infants. Strictly comparable age ranges are essential in nutrition surveys for monitoring trends and evaluating programme impact. Greater awareness of prenatal and early child undernutrition is needed among policy-makers.


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (Suppl 4) ◽  
pp. e001300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ties Boerma ◽  
Hannah Tappis ◽  
Ghada Saad-Haddad ◽  
Jai Das ◽  
Dessalegn Y Melesse ◽  
...  

Armed conflicts are widespread in sub-Saharan Africa and considered to be an important factor in slowing down national progress in reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health (RMNCH). The measurement of the impact of conflicts on national levels and trends in RMNCH is difficult. National surveys conducted before and sometimes during and after conflicts are a major source of information on the national and local effects of conflicts on RMNCH. We examined data from national surveys in 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa with major conflicts during 1990–2016 to assess the levels and trends in RMNCH intervention coverage, nutritional status and mortality in children under 5 years in comparison with subregional trends. The surveys provide substantive evidence of a negative association between levels and trends in national indicators of RMNCH service coverage, child growth and under-5 mortality with armed conflict, with some notable exceptions. National surveys are an important source of data to assess the longer term national consequences of conflicts for RMNCH in most countries, despite limitations due to sampling and timing of the surveys.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (10-3) ◽  
pp. 238-246
Author(s):  
Olga Dzhenchakova

The article considers the impact of the colonial past of some countries in sub-Saharan Africa and its effect on their development during the post-colonial period. The negative consequences of the geopolitical legacy of colonialism are shown on the example of three countries: Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Angola, expressed in the emergence of conflicts in these countries based on ethno-cultural, religious and socio-economic contradictions. At the same time, the focus is made on the economic factor and the consequences of the consumer policy of the former metropolises pursuing their mercantile interests were mixed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (S1) ◽  
pp. e25243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentina Cambiano ◽  
Cheryl C Johnson ◽  
Karin Hatzold ◽  
Fern Terris‐Prestholt ◽  
Hendy Maheswaran ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1780
Author(s):  
Chima M. Menyelim ◽  
Abiola A. Babajide ◽  
Alexander E. Omankhanlen ◽  
Benjamin I. Ehikioya

This study evaluates the relevance of inclusive financial access in moderating the effect of income inequality on economic growth in 48 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) for the period 1995 to 2017. The findings using the Generalised Method of Moments (sys-GMM) technique show that inclusive financial access contributes to reducing inequality in the short run, contrary to the Kuznets curve. The result reveals a negative effect of financial access on the relationship between income inequality and economic growth. There is a positive net effect of inclusive financial access in moderating the impact of income inequality on economic growth. Given the need to achieve the Sustainable Development Targets in the sub-region, policymakers and other stakeholders of the economy must design policies and programmes that would enhance access to financial services as an essential mechanism to reduce income disparity and enhance sustainable economic growth.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 525
Author(s):  
Yann Forget ◽  
Michal Shimoni ◽  
Marius Gilbert ◽  
Catherine Linard

By 2050, half of the net increase in the world’s population is expected to reside in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), driving high urbanization rates and drastic land cover changes. However, the data-scarce environment of SSA limits our understanding of the urban dynamics in the region. In this context, Earth Observation (EO) is an opportunity to gather accurate and up-to-date spatial information on urban extents. During the last decade, the adoption of open-access policies by major EO programs (CBERS, Landsat, Sentinel) has allowed the production of several global high resolution (10–30 m) maps of human settlements. However, mapping accuracies in SSA are usually lower, limited by the lack of reference datasets to support the training and the validation of the classification models. Here we propose a mapping approach based on multi-sensor satellite imagery (Landsat, Sentinel-1, Envisat, ERS) and volunteered geographic information (OpenStreetMap) to solve the challenges of urban remote sensing in SSA. The proposed mapping approach is assessed in 17 case studies for an average F1-score of 0.93, and applied in 45 urban areas of SSA to produce a dataset of urban expansion from 1995 to 2015. Across the case studies, built-up areas averaged a compound annual growth rate of 5.5% between 1995 and 2015. The comparison with local population dynamics reveals the heterogeneity of urban dynamics in SSA. Overall, population densities in built-up areas are decreasing. However, the impact of population growth on urban expansion differs depending on the size of the urban area and its income class.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-29
Author(s):  
Hussaini Ojagefu Adamu ◽  
Rahimat Oshuwa Hussaini ◽  
Cedric Obasuyi ◽  
Linus Irefo Anagha ◽  
Gabriel Oscy Okoduwa

AbstractMastitis is a disease of livestock that directly impede livestock production and thus hindering the socio-ecological development of sub-Saharan Africa. Studies have estimated the prevalence of this disease in 30% of Africa countries, with Ethiopia having the highest prevalence. The coverage is low, despite the wide livestock and dairy farms distribution in Africa. Furthermore, estimated economic losses due to the impact of mastitis are lacking in Nigeria. The disease is endemic in Nigeria as indicated by the available data and there are no proposed management plans or control strategies. This review is thus presented to serve as a wakeup call to all parties involved to intensify efforts towards the diagnosis, control, and management of the disease in Nigeria.


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