Anemia prevalence in women of reproductive age in low- and middle-income countries between 2000 and 2018

Anemia is a globally widespread condition in women and is associated with reduced economic productivity and increased mortality worldwide. Here we map annual 2000–2018 geospatial estimates of anemia prevalence in women of reproductive age (15–49 years) across 82 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), stratify anemia by severity and aggregate results to policy-relevant administrative and national levels. Additionally, we provide subnational disparity analyses to provide a comprehensive overview of anemia prevalence inequalities within these countries and predict progress toward the World Health Organization’s Global Nutrition Target (WHO GNT) to reduce anemia by half by 2030. Our results demonstrate widespread moderate improvements in overall anemia prevalence but identify only three LMICs with a high probability of achieving the WHO GNT by 2030 at a national scale, and no LMIC is expected to achieve the target in all their subnational administrative units. Our maps show where large within-country disparities occur, as well as areas likely to fall short of the WHO GNT, offering precision public health tools so that adequate resource allocation and subsequent interventions can be targeted to the most vulnerable populations.Peer reviewe

Global maps of soil temperature.

Research in global change ecology relies heavily on global climatic grids derived from estimates of air temperature in open areas at around 2 m above the ground. These climatic grids do not reflect conditions below vegetation canopies and near the ground surface, where critical ecosystem functions occur and most terrestrial species reside. Here, we provide global maps of soil temperature and bioclimatic variables at a 1-km <sup>2</sup> resolution for 0-5 and 5-15 cm soil depth. These maps were created by calculating the difference (i.e. offset) between in situ soil temperature measurements, based on time series from over 1200 1-km <sup>2</sup> pixels (summarized from 8519 unique temperature sensors) across all the world's major terrestrial biomes, and coarse-grained air temperature estimates from ERA5-Land (an atmospheric reanalysis by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts). We show that mean annual soil temperature differs markedly from the corresponding gridded air temperature, by up to 10°C (mean = 3.0 ± 2.1°C), with substantial variation across biomes and seasons. Over the year, soils in cold and/or dry biomes are substantially warmer (+3.6 ± 2.3°C) than gridded air temperature, whereas soils in warm and humid environments are on average slightly cooler (-0.7 ± 2.3°C). The observed substantial and biome-specific offsets emphasize that the projected impacts of climate and climate change on near-surface biodiversity and ecosystem functioning are inaccurately assessed when air rather than soil temperature is used, especially in cold environments. The global soil-related bioclimatic variables provided here are an important step forward for any application in ecology and related disciplines. Nevertheless, we highlight the need to fill remaining geographic gaps by collecting more in situ measurements of microclimate conditions to further enhance the spatiotemporal resolution of global soil temperature products for ecological applications

Willingness to Pay for Orange-fleshed Sweet Potato Juice: A Comparison of Rural and Urban Consumers in Kenya

Bio-fortified foods including orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) have been promoted worldwide as a potential mechanism to combat Vitamin A deficiency. One of the ways to promote consumption of OFSP is to process it into less perishable products with wider geographical coverage. However, there is a dearth of empirical insights on the specific attributes that consumers desire in such value-added products; this constrains sustainable investments in such initiatives. In order to fill this knowledge gap, the current study assessed consumers' willingness to pay for OFSP juice attributes in rural and urban areas using choice experiment approach. Results showed that on average, for each liter of OFSP juice, rural consumers were willing to pay premiums of USD0.58, 0.39, 0.66, 0.75 and 0.72 respectively for the juice with OFSP only or that with OFSP and lemon as opposed to that with OFSP and mango; OFSP juice with additives; origin labeling of the OFSP juice and; joint inspection and certification of the OFSP juice rather than public inspection and certification. On the contrary, rural consumers demanded a discount of USD0.25 for involvement of private rather than public entities in the inspection and certification process. The urban consumers on the other hand, were willing to pay USD0.93, 0.82, 2.22, 0.32, 0.54 and 0.76 respectively, for juice with OFSP only or that with OFSP and lemon instead of OFSP and mango; additives, origin labeling and; private or joint inspection and certification as opposed to public inspection of the juice. These findings should inform the design of OFSP juices that meet the heterogeneous preferences of the rural and urban consumers

Assessment of consumers’ preference for orange-fleshed sweet potato puree chapati: a case of rural and urban consumers in Kenya

Background Orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP) is bio-fortified with vitamin A precursors through breeding and is thus ideal for combating vitamin A deficiency (VAD). One of the potential mechanisms to promote the consumption of OFSP is to enhance its availability through processing into products with a longer shelf life and more desirable to consumers. However, very few farmers and agro-processors practice value addition due to market uncertainties; there is little information on market availability for OFSP products. This study examined consumers’ preference for OFSP puree chapati in rural and urban areas of Kenya, using the contingent valuation method. Data was collected from a random sample of 411 sweetpotato consumers and a double-bounded logit model was applied to analyze consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for OFSP puree chapati. Results Consumers were willing to pay a price of Kshs 19 (USD0.14) and 35 (USD0.26) for OFSP puree chapati in Homa Bay and Nairobi counties, respectively. The presence of children under five years in a household, consumers' awareness of OFSP products and benefits of consuming OFSP, and level of education had a positive and significant influence on WTP for OFSP puree chapati in both regions. Conclusion The study demonstrated that consumers exhibited a positive preference for OFSP puree chapati. In order to increase the consumption of OFSP and its value-added products, it is important to promote consumer awareness of OFSP puree chapati and other such nutritious products through cooking demonstrations and other nudging approaches using attractive illustrations and social media platforms that engage mothers and care-givers of children under five years old as well as the youth

Antioxidant, tyrosinase inhibitory, and acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activities of green tea (Camellia sinensis L.) seed and its pericarp

10.1007/s10068-012-0099-9Food Science and Biotechnology213761-76

Global maps of soil temperature

Research in global change ecology relies heavily on global climatic grids derived from estimates of air temperature in open areas at around 2 m above the ground. These climatic grids do not reflect conditions below vegetation canopies and near the ground surface, where critical ecosystem functions occur and most terrestrial species reside. Here, we provide global maps of soil temperature and bioclimatic variables at a 1-km2 resolution for 0–5 and 5–15 cm soil depth. These maps were created by calculating the difference (i.e. offset) between in situ soil temperature measurements, based on time series from over 1200 1-km2 pixels (summarized from 8519 unique temperature sensors) across all the world's major terrestrial biomes, and coarse-grained air temperature estimates from ERA5-Land (an atmospheric reanalysis by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts). We show that mean annual soil temperature differs markedly from the corresponding gridded air temperature, by up to 10°C (mean = 3.0 ± 2.1°C), with substantial variation across biomes and seasons. Over the year, soils in cold and/or dry biomes are substantially warmer (+3.6 ± 2.3°C) than gridded air temperature, whereas soils in warm and humid environments are on average slightly cooler (−0.7 ± 2.3°C). The observed substantial and biome-specific offsets emphasize that the projected impacts of climate and climate change on near-surface biodiversity and ecosystem functioning are inaccurately assessed when air rather than soil temperature is used, especially in cold environments. The global soil-related bioclimatic variables provided here are an important step forward for any application in ecology and related disciplines. Nevertheless, we highlight the need to fill remaining geographic gaps by collecting more in situ measurements of microclimate conditions to further enhance the spatiotemporal resolution of global soil temperature products for ecological application