Orange-Fleshed Sweet Potato

Background: Chronic vitamin A deficiency affects both women and children in Mozambique and populations worldwide and cannot be addressed through supplementation alone. Food-based approaches encouraging the consumption of vitamin A-rich foods, such as the orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP), have the potential to positively affect vitamin A status. A range of OFSP varieties have been introduced in sub-Saharan Africa in rural and urban environments and emergency and nonemergency contexts. Objective: To highlight the successes to date and remaining challenges of the introduction of OFSP to increase vitamin A consumption in Mozambique, collating a time line of key events. Methods: A systematic review of literature using The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. Results: The systematic search resulted in 20 studies that met inclusion criteria. Data extracted include author and year, study location and duration, project partners, project title, sample size and characteristics, objectives, methods and measures, and outcomes. Conclusions: Orange-fleshed sweet potatoes are widely accepted by Mozambican farmers and consumers, and various studies show a positive impact on vitamin A status due to the introduction of this nutritionally superior staple crop. Remaining challenges include vine preservation, pest and disease management, market development, and storage and processing

Likelihood of Breastfeeding Within the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children Population

Background: Breastfeeding is an important public health initiative. Low-income women benefiting from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) are a prime population for breastfeeding promotion efforts. Research aim: This study aims to determine factors associated with increased likelihood of breastfeeding for WIC participants. Methods: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis statement guided the systematic review of literature. Database searches occurred in September and October 2014 and included studies limited to the previous 10 years. The following search terms were used: low-income; WIC; women, infants, and children; breastfeeding; breast milk; and maternal and child health. The criterion for inclusion was a study sample of women and children enrolled in the WIC program, thereby excluding non-United States–based research. Results: Factors that increased the likelihood of breastfeeding for WIC participants included sociodemographic and health characteristics ( n = 17); environmental and media support ( n = 4); government policy ( n = 2); intention to breastfeed, breastfeeding in hospital, or previous breastfeeding experience ( n = 9); attitudes toward and knowledge of breastfeeding benefits ( n = 6); health care provider or social support; and time exposure to WIC services ( n = 5). Conclusion: The complexity of breastfeeding behaviors within this population is clear. Results provide multisectored insight for future research, policies, and practices in support of increasing breastfeeding rates among WIC participants

Availability, Price, and Quality of Fruits and Vegetables in 12 Rural Montana Counties, 2014

We assessed the consumer food environment in rural areas by using the Nutrition Environment Measures Survey for Stores (NEMS–S) to measure the availability, price, and quality of fruits and vegetables. We randomly selected 20 grocery stores (17 rural, 3 urban) in 12 Montana counties using the 2013 US Department of Agriculture’s rural–urban continuum codes. We found significant differences in NEMS–S scores for quality of fruits and vegetables; of 6 possible points, the mean quality score was 4.5; of rural stores, the least rural stores had the highest mean quality scores (6.0). Intervention strategies should aim to increase fruit and vegetable quality in rural areas

Likelihood of Breastfeeding Within the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children Population

BACKGROUND: Breastfeeding is an important public health initiative. Low-income women benefiting from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) are a prime population for breastfeeding promotion efforts. RESEARCH AIM: This study aims to determine factors associated with increased likelihood of breastfeeding for WIC participants. METHODS: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis statement guided the systematic review of literature. Database searches occurred in September and October 2014 and included studies limited to the previous 10 years. The following search terms were used: low-income; WIC; women, infants, and children; breastfeeding; breast milk; and maternal and child health. The criterion for inclusion was a study sample of women and children enrolled in the WIC program, thereby excluding non-United States–based research. RESULTS: Factors that increased the likelihood of breastfeeding for WIC participants included sociodemographic and health characteristics (n = 17); environmental and media support (n = 4); government policy (n = 2); intention to breastfeed, breastfeeding in hospital, or previous breastfeeding experience (n = 9); attitudes toward and knowledge of breastfeeding benefits (n = 6); health care provider or social support; and time exposure to WIC services (n = 5). CONCLUSION: The complexity of breastfeeding behaviors within this population is clear. Results provide multisectored insight for future research, policies, and practices in support of increasing breastfeeding rates among WIC participants

Prevention and treatment of acute malnutrition in humanitarian emergencies : a multi-organisation collaboration to increase access to synthesised evidence

CITATION: Allen, C., et al. 2019. Prevention and treatment of acute malnutrition in humanitarian emergencies : a multi-organisation collaboration to increase access to synthesised evidence. Journal of International Humanitarian Action, 4:11, doi:10.1186/s41018-019-0057-8.The original publication is available at https://link.springer.comBackground: Program decision-making to prevent and treat acute malnutrition in an emergency can be hampered by a lack of accessible and relevant overviews of directly available robust research evidence. There is often evidence from related settings such as from low-income countries, but this is dispersed across many databases, may be inaccessible and requires assessment of its relevance to the humanitarian setting. We describe a process whereby a multi-disciplinary, international group of specialists worked together to build relevant and effective collections of available systematic reviews on acute malnutrition, published and disseminated as online collections, to improve access to the evidence and concise, synthesised, relevant up to date evidence for programming. By describing this process, we hope to inspire other professional groups to take part in similar multi-stakeholder, multi-disciplinary projects. Objectives: This project was designed to make the evidence from relevant systematic reviews about malnutrition as accessible as possible to support evidence-based decision-making and to guide future research on the prevention and treatment of acute malnutrition in humanitarian emergencies. Methods: Between March 2017 and March 2018, a large group (21 volunteers and stakeholders) with different backgrounds collaborated to review and curate collections of systematic reviews of interventions for the prevention and treatment of moderate and severe acute malnutrition relevant to humanitarian emergencies. The methodology loosely followed general guidance for overviews of systematic reviews with a pre-defined question (formulated using the PICOS format) and search strategies applied to multiple databases. Pairs of collaborators first screened the search yields to identify potentially eligible reviews, where after other pairs screened the list of potentially eligible reviews for relevance and thus included in the final collections. Results: Search strategies were run in 12 databases, in the week of 15 September 2017, yielding a total of 4646 records after de-duplication. At this point, Cochrane reviews (n = 463) and non-Cochrane reviews (n = 4183) were separated and handled by different teams to compile three linked collections, namely the Evidence Aid Collection, consisting of relevant non-Cochrane reviews, and two Cochrane Special Collections, consisting of relevant Cochrane reviews, one for prevention and the other for treatment of acute malnutrition. The collections were published on the Evidence Aid website on 12 March 2018 and Cochrane website in August 2018. Discussion: Through this collaboration, we have successfully generated three collections of systematic reviews to guide prevention and management of acute malnutrition in humanitarian emergencies: an Evidence Aid collection of non-Cochrane reviews, and two Cochrane Special Collections of Cochrane reviews. These collections provide accessible synthesised evidence that can be used to inform decision-making on strategies and policies in the humanitarian emergency and disaster risk reduction sectors and to guide future research by identifying gaps in robust evidence and areas that are under-researched. These collections did not set out to assess methodological quality, appraise in detail what the reviews found or summarise the evidence, but rather to curate the identified relevant systematic reviews into online resources for others to use. This unique collaboration of different individuals, organisations and stakeholders, and the collation of robust evidence can be repeated for other subjects, and Evidence Aid is eager to support new collections around other topics relevant to humanitarian emergencies.https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s41018-019-0057-8Publisher's versio

Aliens and Predators

This article examines the intersections of prostitution and race in Cardiff, and shows that racialized concepts of predatory sexuality framed ideas of prostitution in twentieth-century British ports. These were linked to wider concerns over miscegenation in the dockside district of Butetown, a space historically linked to prostitution and seen as distinctly ‘foreign’ and ‘contagious' by the interwar years. These debates were informed by local demographics and geographies, and were dominated by continuities in nineteenth-century ideas over race and sex. This evidence demonstrates the ongoing fractured development of sexual knowledge and ideas of multiculturalism in twentieth-century Britain