Factors associated with hospitalizations for primary care-sensitive conditions in Brazil: an ecological study

Objective

To investigate whether structural aspects of primary care units (PCUs) and the work processes of primary care teams are associated with the rate of hospitalizations for primary care-sensitive conditions (HPCSC) in children younger than 5 years of age in Brazil.

Addressing malnutrition in all its forms in Caribbean countries using a food systems approach

The Caribbean sub-region is facing increasing levels of overweight, obesity and diet-related noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), while at the same time coping with a persistent problem of acute and chronic undernutrition and deficiency diseases which are affecting some countries and some sectors of the population, particularly population groups under vulnerable conditions. The prevalence of obesity in adults in the Caribbean increased from 15.2% in 2000 to 24.7% in 2016, well above the global prevalence of 13.1%.

Comparative cost of diets for low-income families in the Caribbean

Objective

To assess the ability of low-income families to obtain a standard basket of healthy foods before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

The costs of 191 food items were averaged from supermarkets, municipal markets, wholesalers, and community food outlets in high- and low-income areas in three Caribbean countries. The analysis compared foods not only by selecting high- and low-ranked commodities but by the proportions of those foods, by food group, that will be required to meet a low-cost, nutritionally balanced diet of 2 400 kcal.

Interventions and policies aimed at improving nutrition in Small Island Developing States: a rapid review

Objective

To describe features of nutritional interventions implemented in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the past 20 years.

Methods

A rapid scoping review was conducted by searching PubMed and Web of Science databases for interventions conducted in SIDS that sought to improve the nutrition of their populations between 2000 and 2019 inclusive. The Noncommunicable diseases progress monitor 2020 was also examined to assess nutritional policies in SIDS.

Improving household nutrition security and public health in the CARICOM

Caribbean countries have the worse epidemic of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and premature mortality from NCDs in the Region of the Americas. One of the leading risk factors for NCDs is overweight and obesity, primarily due to unhealthy diets. In the “non-Latin Caribbean”, overweight and obesity rates average 45.9% for men and 60.7% among women with 8% of children <5 years being overweight. These rates worsen each year. Creating enabling environments to improve dietary diversity would contribute significantly to reducing obesity and diet related NCDs.

Healthy lives, education and wealth: ecological relationships in social resilience

A key feature of this special supplement of the Pan American Journal of Public Health is its focus on the state of chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the Caribbean. The negative value chain impact is its effects on economic growth and childhood educational outcomes. Thus, there is an ecological relationship between interventions to support dietary diversity, improving successful transitions from school to work and economic growth in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

Improving dietary diversity in the Caribbean Community

The Caribbean Region is blessed by diversity. The ethnic diversities of the people who inhabit it. The language diversity reflecting the tongues of original native people, the colonial history and the people brought here from Africa and India, not to mention the languages and dialects and patois which developed in the Caribbean. So, it should be expected that the Caribbean would naturally have a diversity in the foods we eat and the ways in which they are prepared.

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