Patricia Arnaiz

• MSc
• PhD Student at University of Basel

Introduction: Risk factors for noncommunicable diseases such as insufficient physical activity (PA), overweight or hypertension are becoming increasingly predominant among children globally. While school-based interventions are promising preventive strategies, evidence of their long-term effectiveness, especially among vulnerable populations, is sc...

Background Despite the uncontested benefits of physical activity, its promotion lags behind in the public health agenda of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). School-based interventions are promising strategies to foster health during childhood, but evidence of their effectiveness is limited and inconclusive for LMICs. Thus, further investiga...

Despite the acknowledged advantages of physical activity, its prioritization among public health initiatives of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is still lacking. School-centered approaches show promise in enhancing childhood health, yet their effectiveness in LMICs lacks clear evidence. Consequently, further exploration into contextual fac...

Globally, physical inactivity is one of the leading risk factors for non-communicable diseases. Combined with overstretched health systems, this trend is particularly worrying in Africa, where physical inactivity among adolescents is alarmingly high at 85.4% and is estimated to cause over 200,000 deaths every year. Nurturing our children’s physical...

The burden of non-communicable diseases is increasing, with risk factors emerging early in life. Physical activity reduces cardiovascular risk, but limited evidence exists for children from lower-income countries and mostly relies on self-reported methods that might be inaccurate and biased. We aimed to compare self-reported and accelerometer-measu...

The KaziKidz toolkit (with open access from https://kazibantu.org/kazikidz/) is a holistic educational and instructional tool for pre-primary and primary school teachers and arose from the project KaziBantu. The lessons have been designed in conjunction with the Namibian curriculum. The aim is to motivate learners through content, games and activit...

The ‘Moving-to-Music’ lessons (with open access from https://kazibantu.org/kazikidz/) are designed to support teachers to develop personal, physical and psychological skills through dance and movement experiences. With the ready-made lessons, teachers are empowered to teach dance and conduct dance lessons in a school setting with bigger class sizes...

While neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) do not feature prominently in the burden of disease statistics of Namibia, some NTDs are common in disadvantaged populations, expecially in children growing up in poor neighbourhoods. Chronic helminth infections (worms) not only cause morbidity, but also negatively affect the cognitive and physical developme...

Introduction Risk factors for noncommunicable diseases such as insufficient physical activity (PA), overweight or hypertension are becoming increasingly predominant among children globally. While school-based interventions are promising preventive strategies, evidence of their long-term effectiveness, especially among vulnerable populations, is sca...

This study aimed to determine the effects of a 20-week school-based intervention programme on non-communicable disease (NCD) risk factors of children from low-income schools in Gqeberha, South Africa. A cluster randomised control trial was used to test the intervention, which included three components, namely the [1] KaziKidz toolkit, [2] a physica...

The conversation was held with the UNESCO team Namibia (https://en.unesco.org/fieldoffice/windhoek), currently led by Mr Djaffar Moussa-Elkadhum (UNESCO representative in Namibia), with the aim of introducing each to the other team and updating them on current activities; as well as identifying potential synergies where mutual support can be provid...

Objective: Risk factors for chronic diseases such as insufficient physical activity (PA), overweight or hypertension are getting more predominant among children. While school-based interventions are promising preventive strategies, evidence of their long-term effectiveness, especially among vulnerable populations is scarce. KaziKidz is a physical...

This study aimed to establish the prevalence of underweight, overweight and obesity, the level of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and the association thereof among vulnerable children from low-income communities in South Africa. Cross-sectional data were collected from 916 children (467 boys and 449 girls) aged 8–13 years (x̄ = 10.4 ±...

“The KaziBantu model (Healthy Schools for Healthy Communities)” aims to promote physical activity and healthy lifestyles in public primary schools through two complementary programs: KaziKidz, a physical education toolkit for schoolchildren, and KaziHealth, a workplace health intervention program for teachers (project website: https://www.kazibantu...

Backgound The disease profile of low- to middle-income countries is moving towards one seen in Westernised countries, where deaths are mainly attributed to chronic diseases. Children develop risk factors at a young age predisposing them to noncommunicable diseases in adulthood. Most of the risk factors are preventable through healthy lifestyles. Re...

Background The establishment of the EU physical activity (PA) guidelines and the HEPA monitoring framework has had an impact on policy development and implementation across the region from 2015. This works presents results from the third round of monitoring in 2021 and discusses trends since 2015. Methods A questionnaire was distributed in 2021 to...

Objectives To determine the prevalence of individual cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and clustered CVD risk among children attending schools in periurban areas of Gqeberha and to investigate the independent association between clustered CVD risk, moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF). Methods B...

Characteristics of reference populations and normative tables. Data also available at: Arnaiz, Patricia, Müller, Ivan, Seelig, Harald, Gerber, Markus, Bosma, Jacob, Dolley, Danielle, Adams, Larissa, Degen, Jan, Gall, Stefanie, Joubert, Nandi, Nienaber, Madeleine, Nqweniso, Siphesihle, Aerts, Ann, Steinmann, Peter, du Randt, Rosa, Walter, Cheryl, U...

Introduction: Hypertension in children has increased globally over the past 20 years; yet, little is known about this issue among disadvantaged communities from low- and middle-income countries. Age-, sex-, and height-adjusted normative tables are the “gold” standard for the diagnosis and estimation of pediatric hypertension worldwide, but it is un...

Often school educators appointed to teach physical education (PE) are non-specialists and lack the understanding and confidence to adequately teach the content. According to teaching staff the implementation of quality physical education (QPE) is not feasible with the current curricular, resource and PE-trained teacher constraints. In some lower qu...

Background: Trial monitoring is an important component of good clinical practice to ensure the safety and rights of study participants, confidentiality of personal information, and quality of data. However, the effectiveness of various existing monitoring approaches is unclear. Information to guide the choice of monitoring methods in clinical inter...

The novelty of the results falls upon the little evidence on the prevalence of hypertension among children in Sub-Saharan Africa and the variability of results in the literature, partially due to the different approaches that exist for collecting and analyzing blood pressure data. Currently, normative tables derived from a population of nearly 50,0...

Information on COVID-19-related school suspensions and closures in South Africa and in the Gqeberha region, formerly known as Port Elizabeth

Introduction: The prevalence of chronic, lifestyle-related diseases is increasing among both adults and children from low- and middle-income countries. Despite the effectiveness of community-based interventions to address this situation, the benefits thereof may disappear in the long-term, due to a lack of maintenance, especially among disadvantage...

Being physically active contributes to the development of physical competence and fitness as well as to the child’s cognitive, social and emotional development. Physical Education (PE) plays a crucial role in the holistic education and development of children. Yet, in many schools from marginalised neighbourhoods, PE is not given the recognition an...

Physical Education (PE) is a part of a balanced holistic curriculum in schools. There is scientific evidence that PE contributes to the healthy development of learners, improves their academic performance and promotes their joy of life in the school setting. The main goals of this project here are closely connected to UNESCO’s sustainable developme...

While neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) do not feature prominently in the burden of disease statistics of South Africa, some NTDs are common in disadvantaged populations, especially in children growing up in poor neighborhoods. Moreover, the general wellbeing of primary schoolchildren from poor neighbourhoods may also be affected by lack of nutrit...

Physical Education (PE) plays a critical role in the education of a child and schools can make a meaningful contribution to the goal of achieving the recommended daily physical activity WHO guidelines by incorporating PE lessons into the school curriculum. The KaziKidz toolkit (with open access on https://kazibantu.org/kazikidz/) is a holistic educ...

Physical Education (PE) plays a critical role in holistic childhood education and development. To be physically active contributes to the development of physical competence and fitness, as well as to the cognitive, social and emotional development of the child. PE plays a critical role in the education of a child, whereas schools can make a meaning...

This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (Methodology). The objectives are as follows: The main objective of this systematic review of prospective empirical studies is to evaluate the benefits and disadvantages of trial‐specific, risk‐based monitoring strategies compared with a traditional intensive on‐site monitoring strategy or other monitoring s...