Namukolo M Covic

International Livestock Research Institute

An enabling environment for malnutrition reduction includes creating policy and political momentum, and converting momentum to implementation and impact. We used several qualitative data sources to investigate changes in policy and action over time in Zambia. There now exists coherent policy covering key nutrition issues from several sectors, and m...

•Research and science should not only inform food and environmental policy but should be adopted and mainstreamed into actions at all levels.•Food systems are faced with grander and interconnected challenges and constraints that bring about new research questions.•Research has a vital role in charting a positive and sustainable direction for global...

The United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) is an important moment to garner political and financial attention to the challenges that food systems face. It is a difficult moment with many competing national and global priorities including massive inequities, rapid climate change and a global pandemic. It will be important for the UNFSS to build...

Food systems that support healthy diets in sustainable, resilient, just, and equitable ways can engender progress in eradicating poverty and malnutrition; protecting human rights; and restoring natural resources. Food system activities have contributed to great gains for humanity but have also led to significant challenges, including hunger, poor d...

Food systems are at the center of a brewing storm consisting of a rapidly changing climate, rising hunger and malnutrition and significant social inequities. At the same time, there are vast opportunities to ensure that food systems produce healthy and safe food in equitable ways that promote environmental sustainability, especially if the world ca...

Transforming food systems is essential to bring about a healthier, equitable, sustainable, and resilient future, including achieving global development and sustainability goals. To date, no comprehensive framework exists to track food systems transformation and their contributions to global goals. In 2021, the Food Systems Countdown to 2030 Initiat...

Ethiopia announced its first food-based dietary guidelines (FBDGs) on 15 March 2022. The present study aims to develop and evaluate the Ethiopian Healthy Eating Index (Et-HEI) based on the FBDG. Data were collected from 494 Ethiopian women of reproductive age sampled from households in five different regions. The Et-HEI consists of eleven component...

Increased attention to the health and nutritional status of people in developing countries has led to the development and budgeting for food and nutrition policies. While current policy discussions generally acknowledge the need for better integrating nutrition‐sensitive approaches into current nutrition‐specific health interventions, most do not w...

This study aimed to test the acceptability, cultural appropriateness, consumers' understanding, and practicality of the Ethiopian food-based dietary guideline's messages, tips, and food graphics. A qualitative study design was applied with focus group discussions and key informant interviews. Four different participant groups were included: 40 cons...

Background Nutrition-sensitive agriculture is an effective multi-sectoral approach to address the underlying causes of malnutrition. However, successful implementation requires the involvement of different sectors to jointly plan, monitor, and evaluate key activities, which is often challenged by contextual barriers. Previous studies in Ethiopia ha...

Bioethics is the love of life (Macer, 1998), and is the construction of all the decisions that we make across the entire planet. This collection of writings involving bioethical deliberations of situations, actions, events and policies that affect human wellbeing and fitness of the environment may at times appear to value more people in positions o...

Unlabelled: Key 2025 global nutrition targets are unlikely to be met at current rates of progress. Although actions necessary to reduce undernutrition are already mostly known, knowledge gaps remain about how to implement these actions in contextually appropriate ways, and at scales commensurate with the magnitude of the problem. This study descri...

Background: In response to calls to increase nutrition-sensitive agriculture (NSA), the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development developed the Nigeria Agricultural Sector Food Security and Nutrition Strategy 2016-2025 (AFSNS). Capacity development activities to facilitate the AFSNS implementation subsequently commenced. Objective: T...

Grains have historically represented a major component of human diets and were predominantly consumed in whole form until the first half of the 19th century, when a combination of technological innovations and market dynamics made refined grains, hitherto a premium product, affordable and available to the masses. Grains still account for more than...

Nigeria is a high burden country for stunting. Stunting reduction has been slow and characterized by unequal progress across the 36 states and federal capital territory of the country. This study aimed to assess the changes in prevalence of stunting and growth determinants from 2003 to 2018, identify factors that predicted the change in stunting, a...

Over the last two decades, many African countries have undergone dietary and nutrition transitions fueled by globalization, rapid urbanization and development. These changes have altered African food environments and subsequently, dietary behaviors, including food acquisition and consumption. Dietary patterns associated with the nutrition transitio...

Over the last two decades, many African countries have undergone dietary and nutrition transitions fueled by globalization, rapid urbanization and development. These changes have altered African food environments and subsequently, dietary behaviors, including food acquisition and consumption. Dietary patterns associated with the nutrition transitio...

Fruit and vegetable consumption is recommended in numerous food-based dietary guidelines and forms a key recommendation in many international statements related to healthy diets. There are thousands of fruit and vegetable species from which to choose, but despite this abundance from nature populations in most countries neither produce nor consume t...

Despite the will, many developing countries lack the resources to deal with a problem, malnutrition in all its forms, that ravages at both the national and individual level. We need smarter, context-specific solutions on nutrition that can catalyze sustainable change. This article was written on request from the UN Sustainable Development Network...

Poem: I am your food system for you to transform Namukolo Covic 2 March 2021 ……………………………………………………………………………… It is not usual to write a poem for science. The poem reflects my personal views on how we need all hands-on deck from all food systems actors to foster meaningful food systems transformation. It is inspired by and in support of the United N...

Background: Agriculture policies and strategies designed, purposefully, to address malnutrition are considered nutrition-sensitive and are a critical component of global efforts to address malnutrition in all its forms. However, limited evidence exists on extent and how nutrition is being integrated into agriculture sector policies, strategies, an...

Objectives Despite much nutrition research conducted in Ethiopia, none has described existing opportunities for synergy or possible missed opportunities to use research to inform policy and program decisions to foster accelerated progress. The study aimed to describe prevailing processes on evidence use in formulating nutrition policy and program d...

Background Adequate quality complementary diets and appropriate feeding practices are important for proper growth and development of young children. Objective To assess factors associated with diet diversity, meal frequency, and acceptable diet of children aged 6 to 23 months in two agroecological zones of Rongai subcounty, Kenya. Methods A cross...

Background Solutions to create enabling nutrition environments must come from within communities and involve multiple sectors. As vital actors in community mobilization, rights-based advocacy, and accountable public institutions, civil society organizations (CSOs) can help ensure nutrition programs and policies represent and reach all community mem...

Introduction Food-based dietary guidelines (FBDGs) are used to promote and maintain healthy eating in a population, by providing country-specific guidance. However, many African countries like Ethiopia do not have FBDGs. This paper describes the methodology for the development of Ethiopian FBDGs and for creating and evaluating a Healthy Eating Inde...

The promotion and support of human milk banks (HMBs) can enhance exclusive breastfeeding rates. The success and sustainability of HMBs depend on the support from relevant healthcare workers and related communities. This study aimed to determine attitudes of key stakeholders, including mothers, healthcare workers and grandmothers, regarding the dona...

In Botswana, traditional diets are gradually being replaced by westernized diets high in energy-dense and nutrient- poor, while micro nutrient deficiencies among the population remain. We determined the consumption of traditional and indigenous foods (TIF) and their contribution to nutrient intake among children and women in Botswana. TIF accounted...

Background Empirical evidence on the link between agrobiodiversity and dietary diversity appears to be inconclusive. Thus, there arises a need to determine other factors that could significantly influence dietary diversity in different agro-ecological zones, as factors may vary from region to region. Objective The objective of this study was to do...

This paper was developed for the 2018 Africa Day for Food and Nutrition Security and addresses the theme ‘Sustained food safety action for improved nutrition and health of Africans’. The paper starts by describing the current status of food safety in Africa, covering the health and economic burden, the most risky foods and the people most at risk....

The objective of this study was to assess plasma fatty acid (FA) patterns of six‐month‐old South African infants and to determine their association with feeding practices, growth and psychomotor development. Plasma total phospholipid FA composition (% of total FAs) of six‐month‐old infants (n=353) from a peri‐urban township was analysed, and princi...

While dietary energy supply has improved, diets in Ethiopia remain low in diversity and provide insufficient amounts of protein, vitamin A, and zinc. Poor dietary quality contributes to the multiple burden of malnutrition in the country, with 38% stunting among children under five years and 24% anemia and 8% overweight among adult women. Recent Eth...

While dietary energy supply has improved, diets in Ethiopia remain low in diversity and provide insufficient amounts of protein, vitamin A, and zinc. Poor dietary quality contributes to the multiple burden of malnutrition in the country, with 38% stunting among children under five years and 24% anemia and 8% overweight among adult women. Recent Eth...

Background: Evidence on the association between feeding practices, iron deficiency, anaemia, stunting, and impaired psychomotor development during infancy is limited. This study assessed the association between psychomotor development with early feeding practices, growth, iron status, and anaemia. Methods: This was cross-sectional baseline data...

Objective To determine access to traditional and indigenous foods (TIF) and the association with household food security, dietary diversity and women’s BMI in low socio-economic households. Design Sequential explanatory mixed-methods design, including a random household cross-sectional survey on household food insecurity access (HFIA), household d...

Africa as a continent faces high prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies such as vitamin A, iron, and zinc. Biofortification offers a dietary agriculture-based strategy that has shown potential to address selected micronutrient deficiencies. This chapter describes how advocacy for biofortification by HarvestPlus and its partners has been structure...

Mineral and vitamin deficiencies are a serious public health problem in Africa. The terrible consequences of these deficiencies are well known. Biofortification is the process of breeding nutrients into staple food crops. It is one cost-effective and sustainable agricultural investment that can help to reduce mineral and vitamin deficiencies, espec...

Africa as a continent faces high prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies such as vitamin A, iron, and zinc. Biofortification offers a dietary agriculture-based strategy that has shown potential to address selected micronutrient deficiencies. This chapter describes how advocacy for biofortification by HarvestPlus and its partners has been structure...

Biofortification has made more rapid progress in Africa than in Asia or Latin America. Thus, Africa provides an important first view into learning how to implement biofortification successfully, and its potential to improve nutrition and public health. The preceding articles have summarized the evidence available for biofortification, particularly...

Iodine is important for normal growth and psychomotor development. While infants below 6 months of age receive iodine from breast milk or fortified infant formula, the introduction of complementary foods poses a serious risk for deteriorating iodine status. This cross-sectional analysis assessed the iodine status of six-month-old South African infa...

Focusing the 2015 Annual Trends and Outlook Report (ATOR) on nutrition will contribute to a broader understanding of the critical role of nutrition in achieving international, continental, and national economic growth targets through agriculture, food security, and nutrition. This report presents information and analysis in support of evidence-base...

Focusing the 2015 Annual Trends and Outlook Report (ATOR) on nutrition will contribute to a broader understanding of the critical role of nutrition in achieving international, continental, and national economic growth targets through agriculture, food security, and nutrition. This report presents information and analysis in support of evidence-base...

Background: Small-quantity lipid-based nutritional supplements (SQ-LNS) may potentially be used for home fortification in poor settings, where low nutrient-dense complementary foods are commonly used for infant feeding. However, they need to be acceptable to succeed. Objective: This study assessed the acceptability of 2 novel, SQ-LNS (A and B) f...

This article describes a conceptual framework for exploring sustainable diets, using a case study example of ongoing research in the Vaalharts region, a rural setting in South Africa. A qualitative research approach is followed with an integrated transdisciplinary mixed methods research design with multiple concurrent components employed during two...

Objectives: This pilot study preceding an efficacy trial in a peri-urban South African community aimed to: 1) Evaluate the acceptability of two newly developed lipid-based multi-nutrient supplements (LNS) containing micronutrients, essential fatty acids (EFAs) with docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), arachidonic acid (ARA) and phytase (Product B), and micr...

Objectives: The academy of Science of South Africa commissioned a consensus study on improved nutritional assessment of micronutrients in the country. For iron the objectives were to, evaluate usefulness of available indicators for South Africa and other African countries facing similar challenges, review the type and quality of research informatio...

The UNICEF generic communityIYCF training is delivered over 5days with a total of 20 sessions thattake30minutesto4hoursperses-sion (Table 1). Delivery of thetraining takes into account context-specific information to facilitateadaptation of the training package.Training is implemented within thecommunity structures (Figure 1).The training uses princ...

Objective: To carry out an inventory on the availability, challenges, and needs of dietary assessment (DA) methods in Africa as a pre-requisite to provide evidence, and set directions (strategies) for implementing common dietary methods and support web-research infrastructure across countries. Methods: The inventory was performed within the fram...

Undernutrition among women and children contributes to almost half the global burden of child mortality in developing countries. The impact of nutrition on economic development has highlighted the need for evidence-based solutions and yielded substantial global momentum. However, it is now recognized that the impact of evidence-based interventions...

Background. Vitamin A deficiency is a public health problem in Zimbabwe. Addressing vitamin A deficiency has the potential to enhance resistance to disease and reduce mortality, especially in children < 5years. Objective. To describe a vitamin A supplementation outreach strategy implemented in one of the remote rural districts in Zimbabwe, which in...

Abstract The objective of this study was to report on the iron status of South African primary schoolchildren, as reported in independent studies conducted since the last National Food Consumption Survey-Fortification Baseline (NFCS-FB) in 2005. Internet searches were conducted for cross-sectional and randomised controlled trials that reported on...

Little is known about the effects of combined micronutrient and sugar consumption on growth and cognition. In the present study, we investigated the effects of micronutrients and sugar, alone and in combination, in a beverage on growth and cognition in schoolchildren. In a 2 × 2 factorial design, children (n 414, 6-11 years) were randomly allocated...

Iron deficiency with or without anemia is associated with increased susceptibility to infection owing to impaired immune function; this study aimed to examine the associations between markers of iron status and white blood cell counts in African schoolchildren. This cross-sectional study is part of the larger BeForMi study done in the North-West pr...

This current pilot trial assessed the feasibility of implementing a point-of-use (PoU) micronutrient fortification in preschool settings. Preschool children (n = 151) aged 36-79 months were randomized into intervention (n = 76) and control (n = 75) groups, both receiving breakfast maize-porridge with added micronutrient or placebo powder for 52 sch...

Diabetic subjects have been shown to have altered fibrin network structures. One proposed mechanism for this is non-enzymatic glycation of fibrinogen due to high blood glucose. We investigated whether glycaemic control would result in altered fibrin network structures due to decreased fibrinogen glycation. Twenty uncontrolled type 2 diabetic subjec...

Diabetic subjects have been shown to have altered fibrin network structures. One possible cause may be fibrinogen glycation resulting in altered structure/function properties. We investigated the effect of glucose control on fibrinogen glycation and fibrin network structure in type 2 diabetes. Blood samples were taken from twenty uncontrolled diabe...

Thesis (Ph.D. (Nutrition))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.