Women’s empowerment and the adoption of improved maize varieties: Evidence from Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania

Despite recent evidence that decisions about technology adoption often involve input from both men and women, the literature on technology adoption rarely considers gender and intrahousehold issues. In this paper, we use survey data from Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania to investigate the influence of women’s empowerment on the adoption of improved maize varieties (IMVs). While our results are mixed as to whether or not women’s empowerment is positively correlated with higher rates of adoption, we find overwhelmingly that women’s empowerment is positively correlated with greater participation by women in decisions about the adoption of IMVs, the acquisition of credit for the purchase of IMVs, and the acquisition of extension services related to IMVs

Promoting Gender Equality in Irrigation

Promoting Gender Equality in Irrigatio

Evaluating the pathways from small-scale irrigation to dietary diversity: evidence from Ethiopia and Tanzania

Interventions that aim to increase water availability for agriculture hold great potential for improving nutrition through increasing food production, generating income, enhancing water access and sanitation and hygiene conditions, and through strengthening women’s empowerment. Yet there is scarce evidence on the linkages between small-scale irrigation and the pathways through which nutrition outcomes can be achieved. Using data from a cross-sectional household survey collected in Ethiopia and Tanzania, we explored the potential for small-scale irrigation to contribute to improved diets, and identify the pathways through which irrigation affects dietary diversity as measured by the Household Dietary Diversity Score. Unadjusted comparisons show that irrigating households in both countries produced more vegetables, fruits and cash crops, are less food insecure, have a higher value of production, and have higher production diversity and dietary diversity compared to non-irrigating households. Econometric results of a simultaneous equation (3SLS) model showed that irrigation leads to better household dietary diversity mainly through the pathway of increasing household incomes. However, these results are statistically significant only in the case of Ethiopia, and not in Tanzania. While irrigation increased production diversity in Ethiopia, the benefits of increased dietary diversity cannot be attributed to these changes in production after controlling for the effect of income. Other factors, such as gender of the household head and having off-farm income, also influence dietary diversity in Ethiopia. These findings suggest that the potential for irrigation to influence diets is highly context-specific. Understanding the particular pathways and entry points for nutrition-sensitive agriculture approaches could help to improve their benefits for nutrition

Gendered perspectives of ecosystem services: A systematic review

Women and men often have differential access to and derive different benefits from ecosystem services; therefore, their perception and knowledge of ecosystem services also differ. Understanding these differences is critical to ensuring that policies aimed at enhancing access to and use of ecosystem services can provide benefits to all genders. We conducted a systematic review of studies that aim to understand the relationship between gender and ecosystem service perceptions to summarize research from this emerging topic and to identify patterns between gender and ecosystem service perceptions from different case studies. The results show that highly gendered ecosystem services include medicinal products from forest or mangrove ecosystems and freshwater supply. Women have a stronger perception of water quality and erosion control, soil formation, habitat conservation and sustaining biodiversity. Men, on the other hand, had more knowledge of fuel and timber and extreme event mitigation services. Our review also identifies the limitations of sample size for this interdisciplinary topic, calls for more case studies and comparative studies to identify relationships between gender and ecosystem service perceptions, and calls for the development of models on ecosystem services that incorporate gender. Finally, we discuss how our review can augment existing gender frameworks for policymaking

The Role of Polyphenols in Human Health and Food Systems: A Mini-Review

This narrative mini- review summarizes current knowledge of the role of polyphenols in health outcomes—and non-communicable diseases specifically—and discusses the implications of this evidence for public health, and for future directions for public health practice, policy, and research. The publications cited originate mainly from animal models and feeding experiments, as well as human cohort and case-control studies. Hypothesized protective effects of polyphenols in acute and chronic diseases, including obesity, neurodegenerative diseases, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases, are evaluated. Potential harmful effects of some polyphenols are also considered, counterbalanced with the limited evidence of harm in the research literature. Recent international governmental regulations are discussed, as the safety and health claims of only a few specific polyphenolic compounds have been officially sanctioned. The implications of food processing on the bioavailability of polyphenols are also assessed, in addition to the health claims and marketing of polyphenols as a functional food. Finally, this mini-review asserts the need for increased regulation and guidelines for polyphenol consumption and supplementation in order to ensure consumers remain safe and informed about polyphenols

Anemia prevalence and etiology among women, men, and children in Ethiopia: a study protocol for a national population-based survey.

BACKGROUND: Anemia remains a public health challenge in Ethiopia, affecting an estimated 56% of children under age 5 years, 23% of women of reproductive age and 18% of adult men. However, anemia etiology and the relative contribution of underlying risk factors for anemia remains unclear and has hindered implementation of anemia control programs. METHODS/DESIGN: Anemia Etiology in Ethiopia (AnemEE) is a population-based cross-sectional survey of six regions of Ethiopia that includes children, women of reproductive age, and men from regionally representative households. The survey will include detailed assessment of anemia, iron, inflammatory and nutritional biomarkers, diet, comorbidities, and other factors. The objectives of AnemEE are 1) to generate evidence for decision-making on the etiology of anemia in Ethiopia among men, women and children and 2) to simulate the potential effect of iron fortification and other interventions on the prevalence of anemia and risk of iron overload. DISCUSSION: AnemEE will provide the most comprehensive evaluation of anemia etiology in Ethiopia to date due to its detailed assessment of diet, biomarkers, infections and other risk factors in a population-based sample. By generating evidence and simulating potential interventions, AnemEE will inform the development of high-impact anemia control programs and policies. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04002466 . Registered on 28 June 2019. Retrospectively registered

Primary Sensory and Motor Cortex Activities During Voluntary and Passive Ankle Mobilization by the SHADE Orthosis

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Changes and challenges in markets for animal source foods: a qualitative study among market vendors in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Malnutrition is common in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in part due to suboptimal diets limited in essential nutrients. Despite previous dietary diversification efforts, animal source food (ASF) consumption remains low, potentially due to supply-side factors affecting ASF market vendors. This study sought to identify supply-side policies and interventions to support urban ASF market vendors and to alleviate the challenges they face. We conducted a qualitative study among 40 urban food market vendors (interviewed in February 2018) to investigate their perceptions of changes in ASF markets over time, the reasons behind these changes, and the challenges faced. Data were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Findings showed that market vendors agreed that all ASF prices have increased in the past two years, driven by supply shortages, high input costs, consumer demand for ASFs and socio-economic status, among other less prominent causes. Vendors perceived their main challenges to be food supply, religious fasting, consumer demand, price increases and fluctuations, transportation, market infrastructure, and government policies. We identified several potential supply-side interventions and policies that can help optimize ASF markets and eliminate market inefficiencies, including: improving storage facilities to reduce dependability on seasonality; improving road infrastructure to reduce transportation costs and difficulties; stabilizing input costs; and improving the physical market infrastructure to ensure opportunities for business growth. These market-based policies and interventions can help support and stabilize ASF markets by alleviating the barriers faced by urban vendors

Market food diversity mitigates the effect of environment on women's dietary diversity in the Agriculture to Nutrition (ATONU) study, Ethiopia.

OBJECTIVE: In Ethiopia, women's dietary diversity is low, primarily due to poor food availability and access, both at home and market level. The present study aimed to describe market access using a new definition called market food diversity (MFD) and estimate the impact of MFD, crop and livestock diversity on dietary diversity among women enrolled in the Agriculture to Nutrition (ATONU) trial. DESIGN: Baseline cross-sectional data collected from November 2016 to January 2017 were used for the analysis. Availability of foods in markets was assessed at the village level and categorized into nine food groups similar to the dietary diversity index for women. Bivariate and multivariate mixed-effects regression analyses were conducted, adjusted for clustering at the village level. SETTING: Chicken-producing farmers in rural Ethiopia.ParticipantsWomen (n 2117) aged 15-49 years. RESULTS: Overall, less than 6 % of women met the minimum dietary diversity (≥5 food groups) and the most commonly consumed food groups were staples and legumes. Median MFD was 4 food groups (interquartile range: 2-8). Multivariate models indicated that women's dietary diversity differed by livestock diversity, food crop diversity and agroecology, with significant interaction effects between agroecology and MFD. CONCLUSIONS: Women's dietary diversity is poor in Ethiopia. Local markets are variable in food availability across seasons and agroecological zones. The MFD indicator captures this variability, and women who have access to higher MFD in the highland agroecological zone have better dietary diversity. Thus, MFD has the potential to mitigate the effects of environment on women's dietary diversity