PLoS medicine
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More than 700,000 ethnic Rohingya have crossed the border from Rakhine State, Myanmar to Cox's Bazar District, Bangladesh, following escalated violence by Myanmar security forces. The majority of these displaced Rohingya settled in informal sites on previously forested land, in areas without basic infrastructure or access to services. ⋯ These data document significant improvements in both acute and micronutrient malnutrition among Rohingya children in makeshift settlements. These declines coincide with a scaleup of services aimed at prevention and treatment of malnutrition. Ongoing activities to improve access to nutritional services may facilitate further reductions in malnutrition levels to sustained below-crisis levels.
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Information regarding the prevalence of infectious diseases (IDs) in child and adolescent refugees in Europe is scarce. Here, we evaluate a standardized ID screening protocol in a cohort of unaccompanied refugee minors (URMs) in a municipal region of southwest Germany. ⋯ Our study found that standardized ID screening in a URM cohort was practicable and helped collection of relevant patient data in a thorough and time-effective manner. However, screening practices need to be ameliorated, especially in relation to testing for parasitic infections. Most importantly, we found that only a minority of infections were able to be detected clinically. This underscores the importance of active surveillance of IDs among refugees.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Evaluation of a very brief pedometer-based physical activity intervention delivered in NHS Health Checks in England: The VBI randomised controlled trial.
The majority of people do not achieve recommended levels of physical activity. There is a need for effective, scalable interventions to promote activity. Self-monitoring by pedometer is a potentially suitable strategy. We assessed the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a very brief (5-minute) pedometer-based intervention ('Step It Up') delivered as part of National Health Service (NHS) Health Checks in primary care. ⋯ In this large well-conducted trial, we found no evidence of effect of a plausible very brief pedometer intervention embedded in NHS Health Checks on objectively measured activity at 3-month follow-up.
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Comparative Study
Projected impact of the Portuguese sugar-sweetened beverage tax on obesity incidence across different age groups: A modelling study.
Excessive consumption of sugar has a well-established link with obesity. Preliminary results show that a tax levied on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) by the Portuguese government in 2017 led to a drop in sales and reformulation of these products. This study models the impact the market changes triggered by the tax levied on SSBs had on obesity incidence across various age groups in Portugal. ⋯ The tax triggered both a reduction in demand and product reformulation. These, together, can reduce obesity levels among frequent consumers of SSBs. Such taxation is an effective population-wide intervention. Reformulation alone, without the decrease in sales, would have had a far smaller effect on obesity incidence in the Portuguese population.
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Observational Study
Drought and intimate partner violence towards women in 19 countries in sub-Saharan Africa during 2011-2018: A population-based study.
Drought has many known deleterious impacts on human health, but little is known about the relationship between drought and intimate partner violence (IPV). We aimed to evaluate this relationship and to assess effect heterogeneity between population subgroups among women in 19 sub-Saharan African countries. ⋯ Our findings indicate that drought was associated with measures of IPV towards women, with larger positive associations among adolescent girls and unemployed women. There was heterogeneity in these associations across countries. Weather shocks may exacerbate vulnerabilities among women in sub-Saharan Africa. Future work should further evaluate potential mechanisms driving these relationships.