The Role of Animal Source Foods in Improving Nutritional Health in Urban Informal Settlements: Identification of Knowledge Gaps and Implementation Barriers

Abstract

Childhood undernutrition is a health crisis in the rapidly expanding informal settlements of low-income countries worldwide. Nearly half of Kenyan children in the Kibera settlement, in Nairobi, were reported to be stunted, indicating low height-forage. Stunted children are at greater risk for poor cognitive and physical health outcomes in the long-term, problems that tend to be perpetuated in subsequent generations. Animal-source foods (ASF) supply a calorically dense source of micro-and macronutrients, and supplementation with ASF has been shown to improve linear growth and cognition. Correspondingly, increasing consumption of ASF by pregnant women and children has been proposed as a means to disrupt the intergenerational cycle of undernutrition caused by food insecurity. Household surveys indicate that consumption of ASF is low in urban slums, despite the availability of these foods in local markets. Here we review the studies addressing the role of ASF in the diets of the urban poor and identify knowledge gaps relevant to improving nutrition by increasing consumption of ASF. Based predominantly on studies in Kibera and greater Nairobi, these gaps include determining the minimal amount and frequency of dietary ASF to prevent stunting, defining how consumer preferences, markets, and income interact to impede or promote ASF consumption, and understanding the interaction between diet and both clinical and sub-clinical enteric disease on growth outcomes.

Traditional Milking Hygiene Practices and their Effect on Raw Milk Quality of Rural Small-Scale Dairy Farmers in Kwa-Hlabisa, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

“…The study was conducted in Kwa-Hlabisa, located in the KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa. Kwa-Hlabisa falls under the Hlabisa Local Municipality, which is situated in the uMkhanyakude District Municipality in the northeastern region of KwaZulu-Natal (James and Palmer, 2015). The uMkhanyakude District Municipality includes the local municipality of Hlabisa.…”

“…The uMkhanyakude District Municipality includes the local municipality of Hlabisa. The location benefits from good road access, facilitating convenient transportation (James and Palmer, 2015). Hlabisa comprises the former Hlabisa and uThungulu councils and is situated at coordinates 27°7'60" north and 31°49'0" east, with an elevation of 451 meters above sea level.…”

“…The primary land use activity in the area is subsistence agriculture, which includes limited cattle rearing and milking activities. Additionally, scattered settlements can be found throughout the municipality, alongside plantations (James and Palmer, 2015). For this study, a convergent parallel mixed research design was employed.…”

Promoting Global Health Through Pathology: Initiation of the Global Health Pathology Network

“…Recent research findings on the prevalence of cognitive stunting due to lack of animal-source foods in diets underscore the need for maintaining health and off-take of food-producing animals as a cornerstone of lifelong population productivity. 1,6,8 Veterinary pathologists, with their abilities to diagnosis disease for promotion of herd and flock health, can readily contribute in this realm.…”