title: Programming maternal and child overweight and obesity in the context of undernutrition: current evidence and key considerations for low- and middle-income countries.
abstract: The goals of the present targeted review on maternal and child overweight and obesity were to: (i) understand the current situation in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) with regard to recent trends and context-specific risk factors; and (ii) building off this, identify entry points for leveraging existing undernutrition programmes to address overweight and obesity in LMIC. Trends reveal that overweight and obesity are a growing problem among women and children in LMIC; as in Ghana, Kenya, Niger, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, where the prevalence among urban women is approaching 50 %. Four promising entry points were identified: (i) the integration of overweight and obesity into national nutrition plans; (ii) food systems (integration of food and beverage marketing regulations into existing polices on the marketing of breast-milk substitutes and adoption of policies to promote healthy diets); (iii) education systems (integration of nutrition into school curricula with provision of high-quality foods through school feeding programmes); and (iv) health systems (counselling and social and behaviour change communication to improve maternal diet, appropriate gestational weight gain, and optimal infant and young child feeding practices). We conclude by presenting a step-by-step guide for programme officers and policy makers in LMIC with actionable objectives to address overweight and obesity.
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Global Health and Population,Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health,Harvard University,665 Huntington Avenue,Building 1,Room 1221,Boston,MA 02115,USA.
authors.forename: Lindsay M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Jaacks
authors.affiliation: 2Maternal and Child Survival Program,Washington,DC,USA.
authors.forename: Justine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kavle
authors.affiliation: 5Department for International Development,London,UK.
authors.forename: Abigail
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Perry
authors.affiliation: 3Maternal,Newborn,Child Health and Nutrition (MNCHN) Program,PATH,Washington,DC,USA.
authors.forename: Albertha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nyaku
mesh_terms: D017954:Africa South of the Sahara / Q000453:epidemiology; D002664:Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003906:Developing Countries; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D044342:Malnutrition / Q000453:epidemiology*; D039382:Maternal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D009035:Mothers; D018673:Nutrition Policy; D009752:Nutritional Status; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012307:Risk Factors; D015430:Weight Gain
keywords: Developing countries; Dual burden; Overweight; Programme implementation