Research trends on the contribution of traditional food products to child nutrition in Africa’s drylands

Studies have described the diversity of traditional food resources and products (TFPs) in Africa. However, there is no study that maps the current scientific knowledge on the subject and establishes the most promising trends for their valorization in child nutrition. This review fills this gap and guides interventions to combat child malnutrition in Africa focused on local TFPs. A total of 596 scientific publications were exported from Scopus database, followed by bibliometric analysis using the biblioshiny web interface in R version 4.1.3. and by an interpretative analysis of clusters. The study revealed that the publications in our collection cover the period of 1971 to 2022 and were published in 269 journals and involved 2375 authors. Eight research clusters emerged from the mapping as trends. The most significant clusters highlighted that improving dietary diversity, providing sources of vitamin A, used as nutritious ingredients in the development of food products and incorporated into school feeding programs, are ways in which TFPs contribute to child nutrition. Knowledge gaps were identified and can be addressed through future research to fully leverage the opportunities offered by the diversity of traditional food products in Africa drylands to effectively combat child malnutrition. Keywords: Traditional food products, Child malnutrition, Nutritional contribution, Research trends, Africa dryland

Characterization and challenges of food environments of children-under-five in north Benin drylands

Food environments play a crucial role in children's diets by influencing households' supply and access to nutritious foods. By gaining insight into the food environments, there is a potential to design better interventions to reduce the burden of children's malnutrition. However, in the African drylands, data on food environments are limited. This study aims to characterize the current food environments of children-under-five in north Benin drylands. To achieve this, we conducted individual interviews with key informants (n=11) to identify relevant actors and villages for data collection. Focus group discussions (n=12) were then conducted to capture information on the existing foods. Furthermore, we examined markets, shops, and domestic stalls (n=17) to obtain information on the prices of food sold, their properties, and promotional activities related to their sale. Descriptive statistics and multiple correspondence analysis were performed to describe the dimensions and clusters of the food environments, as well as the types of food environments present and the challenges associated with accessing nutritious foods.The study identified a total of 94 foods, which were categorized into four clusters. Clusters 1 and 2 relate to seasonal foods, foods obtained from agriculture, livestock, or forests, and foods available year-round in local markets. In contrast, Clusters 3 and 4 relate to packaged and imported foods that are available year-round in shops and pharmacies. These findings indicate that the food environment in the study area is in transition, featuring both natural and informal market types. The challenges related to accessing nutritious foods include the affordability of processed nutritious foods from the informal market type, as well as the continuous supply of nutritious food from the natural food environment type. Addressing these challenges will require the development of food policies and new interventions and study aimed at improving the external dimensions of the food environment

A meteorological and chemical overview of the DACCIWA field campaign in West Africa in June–July 2016

International audienceIn June and July 2016 the Dynamics–Aerosol–Chemistry–Cloud Interactions in West Africa (DACCIWA) project organised a major international field campaign in southern West Africa (SWA) including measurements from three inland ground supersites, urban sites in Cotonou and Abidjan, radiosondes and three research aircraft. A significant range of different weather situations was encountered during this period, including the monsoon onset. The purpose of this paper is to characterise the large-scale setting for the campaign as well as synoptic and mesoscale weather systems affecting the study region in the light of existing conceptual ideas, mainly using objective and subjective identification algorithms based on (re-) analysis and satellite products. In addition, it is shown how the described synoptic variations influence the atmospheric composition over SWA through advection of mineral-dust, biomass-burning and urban-pollution plumes. The boreal summer of 2016 was characterised by Pacific La Niña, Atlantic El Niño and warm eastern Mediterranean conditions, whose competing influences on precipitation led to an overall average rainy season. During the relatively dusty pre-onset Phase 1 (1–21 June 2016), three westward propagating coherent cyclonic vortices between 4 and 13° N modulated winds and rainfall in the Guinea coastal area. The monsoon onset occurred in connection with a marked extratropical trough and cold surge over northern Africa, leading to a breakdown of the Saharan heat low and African easterly jet and a suppression of rainfall. During this period, quasi-stationary low-level vortices associated with the trough transformed into more tropical, propagating disturbances resembling an African easterly wave (AEW). To the east of this system, moist southerlies penetrated deep into the continent. The post-onset Phase 2 (22 June–20 July 2016) was characterised by a significant increase of low-level cloudiness, unusually dry conditions and strong northeastward dispersion of urban pollution plumes in SWA as well as rainfall modulation by westward propagating AEWs in the Sahel. Around 12–14 July 2016 an interesting and so-far undocumented cyclonic-anticyclonic vortex couplet crossed SWA. The anticyclonic centre had its origin in the southern hemisphere and transported unusually dry air filled with aged aerosol into the region. During Phase 3 (21–26 July 2016), a similar vortex couplet slightly farther north created enhanced westerly moisture transports into SWA and extraordinarily wet conditions, accompanied by a deep penetration of the biomass-burning plume from central Africa. Finally, a return to more undisturbed monsoon conditions took place during Phase 4 (27–31 July 2016). The in-depth synoptic analysis reveals that several significant weather systems during the DACCIWA campaign cannot be attributed unequivocally to any of the tropical waves and disturbances described in the literature, and thus deserve further study