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Introduction
Striving towards improvements in planetary health, food systems, diets and nutrition in school-aged children and adolescents globally
Current institution
Additional affiliations
April 2021 - May 2022
January 2016 - March 2021
September 2022 - July 2023
Education
September 2012 - August 2013
Publications
Publications (41)
The idea of nutrition transition was critical to conceptualizing patterns of the global burden of malnutrition in line with demographic and epidemiological transitions of the 20 th century. However, earlier typologies are less reflective of the nuances which characterize today’s nutrition reality. This analysis presents a new paradigm for conceptua...
In the 4 years since the EAT–Lancet Commission's report on food in the Anthropocene, so much has changed. Global volatile supplies and costs of food, fuel, and fertilisers contribute to inflation and social instability. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted economies and societies across the globe, and the risk of new emerging infectious d...
School-aged children and adolescents have complex interactions with their food environments—the point of engagement of individuals with the food system—and are influenced by a diversity of individual, household and organizational factors. Although a wide range of methods have been proposed to define, monitor and evaluate food environments, few are...
The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting food and nutrition security through economic and social systems shocks, food system disruptions and gaps in coverage of essential health and nutrition services. Food systems in low- and middle-income countries must adapt and strengthen food and nutrition security in the wake of COVID-19.
Climate information services (CIS) are science-based tools used to inform decision-making in climate-sensitive sectors, such as agriculture, water resources, energy, disaster risk reduction and health. These CIS rely on high-quality climate and weather data in order to predict and prepare for specific extreme weather or climate events such as droug...
Climate change, also known as global warming, poses significant challenges for both the planet and humanity. With further warming, every region across the world is projected to increasingly experience concurrent and multiple changes in climate, compounding overall risk. Long-term climate change and near-term extreme weather events have multiple neg...
Context
Pervasive conflict and war adversely affect a nation’s sustainable development. Health and health systems deteriorate, causing long-lasting impacts on diets and nutrition. For the most vulnerable, integrated models of delivery of essential nutrition interventions are critical for the efficiency and sustainability of programs in these settin...
Cooking meals at home is often recommended as a strategy to consume a healthy diet and avoid ultra-processed foods and unhealthy dietary patterns. However, cooking has traditionally been a highly gendered activity, and as food environments, economies, and social norms evolve globally, understanding of cooking behaviors in different contexts is need...
A just food system transformation is imperative to meet this century’s goals of environmental sustainability,
economic fairness, and equitable social well-being. While considerations of justice are beginning to inform
food system transformation debates, there remains a lack of conceptual and practical integration of these
two historically separate...
Social protection programs (SPPs) are common in South Asia, a global malnutrition hotspot. Provision of SPP benefits as well as essential health/nutrition interventions to mothers and children are goals for optimal health and development outcomes, but the degree of co-coverage of SPPs and health/nutrition interventions among beneficiary households...
Global dependence on a few well-researched staple crops exacerbates systemic vulnerabilities to climate change and does not encourage bio- or dietary diversity. The Vision for Adapted Crops and Soils aims to strengthen African food systems by promoting nutritious and climate-resilient “opportunity crops”, also known as "orphan crops", alongside imp...
Context
The school food environment is a critical interface for child and adolescent nutrition, and there is a need to understand existing literature on Canadian school food environments to identify equity gaps and opportunities, and empower decision-makers to plan for future action.
Objective
Literature on Canadian school food and nutrition inter...
Background
Preventive and promotive interventions delivered by schools can support a healthy lifestyle, positive development, and well-being in children and adolescents. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic presented unique challenges to school health and nutrition programmes due to closures and mobility restrictions.
Methods
We conduc...
Progress to improve nutrition among women, infants and children in South Asia has fallen behind the pace needed to meet established global targets. Renewed political commitment and monitoring of nutrition interventions are required to improve coverage and quality of care. Our study aimed to assess the availability of national nutrition policies, pr...
Introduction
To control the spread of COVID-19, mitigation strategies have been implemented globally, which may have unintended harmful effects on child and adolescent mental health. This study aims to synthesise the indirect mental health impacts on children and adolescents globally due to COVID-19 mitigation strategies.
Methods
We included relev...
Despite governmental efforts to close the gender gap and global calls including Sustainable Development Goal 5 to promote gender equality, the sobering reality is that gender inequities continue to persist in Canadian global health institutions. Moreover, from health to the economy, security to social protection, COVID-19 has exposed and heightened...
In addition to the direct health impacts of COVID-19, government and household mitigation measures have triggered negative indirect economic, educational, and food and health system impacts, hitting low-and middle-income countries the hardest and disproportionately affecting women and girls. We conducted a gender focused analysis on five critical a...
(1) Background: To date, there are limited data in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) that collect, monitor, and evaluate food environments in standardized ways. The development of a pilot survey tool, tailored to LMICs and focused on retail food environments, is necessary for improving public health nutrition. (2) Methods: A novel survey too...
OBJECTIVES
To identify effective interventions that promote healthy screen time use and reduce sedentary behavior in school-age children and adolescents (SACA) in all settings, over the last 20 years.
METHODS
Searches were conducted from 2000 until March 2021 using PubMed, Embase, Medline, PsycINFO, Ovid SP, The Cochrane Library, Cochrane Central...
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Digital media has been used mostly to deliver clinical treatments and therapies; however limited evidence evaluates digital interventions for health promotion. The objective of this review is to identify digital interventions for universal health promotion in school-aged children and adolescents globally.
METHODS
Eligible...
Background:
Iron deficiency is an important micronutrient deficiency contributing to the global burden of disease, and particularly affects children, premenopausal women, and people in low-resource settings. Anaemia is a possible consequence of iron deficiency, although clinical and functional manifestations of anemia can occur without iron defici...
Progress has been made globally in improving the coverage of key maternal, newborn, and early childhood interventions in low-income and middle-income countries, which has contributed to a decrease in child mortality and morbidity. However, inequities remain, and many children and adolescents are still not covered by life-saving and nurturing care i...
Perinatal and neonatal mortality and morbidity continue to be major global health challenge. Optimal growth during the first 1,000 days of life is paramount to not only survival, but thriving in childhood. Although diagnosis perinatally and the prognosis of SGA infants has improved over the past decades, there are undoubtedly short- and long- term...
Background:
It has been suggested that low serum zinc levels may be associated with suboptimal outcomes of pregnancy, such as prolonged labour, atonic postpartum haemorrhage, pregnancy-induced hypertension, preterm labour and post-term pregnancies, although these associations have not yet been established. This is an update of a review first publi...
Over the past decade, public health advocates and policymakers have grappled with the increasing issue of the double burden of malnutrition. Building on the Sustainable Development Goals and the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition, strengthening food systems is paramount to addressing hidden hunger, otherwise known as micronutrient deficie...
Background:
Understanding the burden and determinants of suicide during adolescence is key to achieving global health goals. We examined the prevalence and determinants of self-reported suicidal ideation and attempts among younger (13-15 years) and older adolescents (16-17 years).
Methods:
Pooled prevalence estimates with 95% confidence interval...
Objectives
Healthy eating habits in childhood promote optimal growth and development. With rapid globalization and urbanization, dietary patterns have been negatively impacted in many countries. For households and ultimately children, there is increased access to unhealthy, nutrient-poor, ultra-processed foods. In Pakistan, there is a persistent hi...
Food environments may promote access to unhealthy foods, contributing to noncommunicable diseases in low- and middle- income countries (LMICs). This review assessed published evidence on the effects of food environment interventions on anthropometric (BMI and weight status) outcomes in school-aged children (5-9 y) and adolescents (10-19 y) (SACA) i...
Understanding the burden and determinants of suicide during adolescence is key to achieving global health goals.
Suicidal behaviour includes ideation (thinking about killing oneself), planning, attempting and completed suicide. Current model-based approaches of estimating mental illness among adolescents (10-14 years) are based on limited data and...
The global nutritional crisis, which forms the backdrop for the lives of the 1.8 billion adolescents
in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), has made stunted growth and the delayed onset
of puberty common in many regions. These undernourished individuals experience various
manifestations, beginning with low birth weight and height-for-age z-sc...
With the first 1,000 days of life proving to be a critical window of opportunity for physical and cognitive growth and development, an optimal intrauterine environment is vital. If fetus needs are compromised prenatally, there is an increased risk of intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), and infants being born premature, low birth weight (LBW), o...
Background and objectives: Adequate nutrition during school-age and adolescence is important for both current and future health, and these periods are key windows of opportunity for the catch-up growth needed to prevent persistent intergenerational effects of malnourishment (Black et al., 2013; PAHO, 2011). While there have been efforts to determin...
Background and objectives: Adolescent girls in LMICs have worse nutrition profiles when compared to their counterparts in high-income settings, including greater risks for undernutrition, overweight/obesity, and micronutrient deficiencies. Considering the dramatic shift from communicable to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in LMICs, the recognition...
NutriSTEP(®) screens for nutritional risk in preschoolers (3-5 years of age). Availability has been limited to paper versions. The objective is to test reliability for Internet and Onscreen use.
Two studies were conducted with parents in several Ontario Early Years Centres (Internet (n = 63)) and in the community and schools in Timmons, Guelph, and...
