Epidemiology of obesity and overweight in sub-Saharan Africa: A protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis

Introduction Globally, overweight and obesity were estimated to cause 3.4 million deaths, 3.9% of years of life lost and 3.8% of disability-adjusted life years in 2010. Despite the fact that obesity and overweight is a problem of high-income countries, low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), in particular urban settings of sub-Saharan African countries, face the challenge of an increasing trend. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis will be to determine the prevalence of obesity and overweight individuals in sub-Saharan Africa and to help guide policy planners in the decision-making process for the increase in non-communicable diseases in Africa. Methods and analyses A comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies on the prevalence of obesity and overweight in sub-Saharan Africa will be conducted. A computerised internet search using Medline/PubMed, Google Scholar and EMBASE databases and reference lists of previous prevalence studies and detailed search strategy and cross-checking of reference lists of published peer-reviewed articles will be conducted to identify all epidemiological and/or clinical studies published in English and French. We will use the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses) statement for reporting. The overall effect (pooled estimated effect size) of the prevalence of obesity and overweight will be analysed using the Der Simonian-Laird random effects meta-analysis (random effects model) and the obesity proportion (with 95% CI) will be measured. Ethics and dissemination The underlying work is based on systematic reviews of published data and thus doed not require ethical review approval. The findings of the systematic review will be disseminated in different conferences and seminars and will be published in a reputable and refereed international peer-reviewed journal. PROSPERO registration number CRD42017064942

Global mortality of snakebite envenoming between 1990 and 2019

Snakebite envenoming is an important cause of preventable death. The World Health Organization (WHO) set a goal to halve snakebite mortality by 2030. We used verbal autopsy and vital registration data to model the proportion of venomous animal deaths due to snakes by location, age, year, and sex, and applied these proportions to venomous animal contact mortality estimates from the Global Burden of Disease 2019 study. In 2019, 63,400 people (95% uncertainty interval 38,900–78,600) died globally from snakebites, which was equal to an age-standardized mortality rate (ASMR) of 0.8 deaths (0.5–1.0) per 100,000 and represents a 36% (2–49) decrease in ASMR since 1990. India had the greatest number of deaths in 2019, equal to an ASMR of 4.0 per 100,000 (2.3—5.0). We forecast mortality will continue to decline, but not sufficiently to meet WHO’s goals. Improved data collection should be prioritized to help target interventions, improve burden estimation, and monitor progress