Whereas common infectious and parasitic diseases such as malaria and the HIV/AIDS pandemic remain major unresolved health problems in many developing countries, emerging non-communicable diseases relating to diet and lifestyle have been increasing over the last two decades, thus creating a double burden of disease and impacting negatively on already over-stretched health services in these countries. Prevalence rates for type 2 diabetes mellitus and CVD in sub-Saharan Africa have seen a 10-fold increase in the last 20 years. In the Arab Gulf current prevalence rates are between 25 and 35 % for the adult population, whilst evidence of the metabolic syndrome is emerging in children and adolescents. The present review focuses on the concept of the epidemiological and nutritional transition. It looks at historical trends in socio-economic status and lifestyle and trends in nutrition-related non-communicable diseases over the last two decades, particularly in developing countries with rising income levels, as well as the other extreme of poverty, chronic hunger and coping strategies and metabolic adaptations in fetal life that predispose to non-communicable disease risk in later life. The role of preventable environmental risk factors for obesity and the metabolic syndrome in developing countries is emphasized and also these challenges are related to meeting the millennium development goals. The possible implications of these changing trends for human and economic development in poorly-resourced healthcare settings and the implications for nutrition training are also discussed.

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Dissemination of research findings through the publication of one’s work or a group of contributors is an important part of the research process, as this allows the passing on of benefits to a much wider community. In whatever evocative form this dissemination may take, the onus lies on the author(s) to ensure adherence to the code of ethics as it pertains to the integrity of the information being put out. We publish because we want our findings to be adapted into practice and application, or in some cases may be relevant to policy makers in decision-making. To a large extent in the field of academia, successful publication improves opportunities for academic funding and promotion whilst enhancing scientific and scholarly achievement and repute. A situation may be compromised where intellectual contributions to a scientific investigation do not adhere to the four key guidelines of scholarship, authorship, approval and agreement as well as the protocols of ensuring good publication ethics. The objective of this review is to lay emphasis on universal standards for manuscript authorship and to fostering good practices. This in our view will bring authorship credit and accountability to the attention of our colleagues and readers at large. To achieve this, a systematic and critical review of the literature was undertaken. Electronic databases, academic journals and books from various sources were accessed. Several key search terms relating to responsible authorship, common authorship malpractices, conflict of interest, universal publication guidelines and other authorship related issues, were used. Only references deemed useful from relevant texts and journal articles were included. In this paper, the authors have sought to highlight the pitfalls researchers sometimes entangle themselves within an act of compromise thereby impinging on the ethical and professional responsibilities for the content of a paper under consideration. This article presents the case that authorship has a strong currency that brings not only personal satisfaction but also career rewards based on publication counting. In all cases described here, a universal standard for manuscript authorship will be critical in fostering good practices. As you write and review manuscripts, keep these good practices in mind, and consider ways to bring authorship credit and accountability to the attention of your colleagues and readers.

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to characterise the local foods and beverages sold and advertised in three deprived urban African neighbourhoods.DesignCross-sectional observational study. We undertook an audit of all food outlets (outlet type and food sold) and food advertisements. Descriptive statistics were used to summarise exposures. Latent class analysis was used to explore the interactions between food advertisements, food outlet types and food type availability.SettingThree deprived neighbourhoods in African cities: Jamestown in Accra, Ho Dome in Ho (both Ghana) and Makadara in Nairobi (Kenya).Main outcome measureTypes of foods and beverages sold and/or advertised.ResultsJamestown (80.5%) and Makadara (70.9%) were dominated by informal vendors. There was a wide diversity of foods, with high availability of healthy (eg, staples, vegetables) and unhealthy foods (eg, processed/fried foods, sugar-sweetened beverages). Almost half of all advertisements were for sugar-sweetened beverages (48.3%), with higher exposure to alcohol adverts compared with other items as well (28.5%). We identified five latent classes which demonstrated the clustering of healthier foods in informal outlets, and unhealthy foods in formal outlets.ConclusionOur study presents one of the most detailed geospatial exploration of the urban food environment in Africa. The high exposure of sugar-sweetened beverages and alcohol both available and advertised represent changing urban food environments. The concentration of unhealthy foods and beverages in formal outlets and advertisements of unhealthy products may offer important policy opportunities for regulation and action.