Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T11:02:41.106Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Priorities for African youth for engaging in DOHaD

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 June 2017

A. J. Macnab*
Affiliation:
Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS), Wallenberg Research Centre at Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch 7600, South Africa University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
R. Mukisa
Affiliation:
Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS), Wallenberg Research Centre at Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch 7600, South Africa Health and Development Agency (Uganda), Mbarara, Uganda
*
*Address for correspondence: A. J. Macnab, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada V6T 1Z4. (Email [email protected])

Abstract

A challenge for implementing DOHaD-defined health promotion is how to engage the at-risk population. The WHO Health Promoting School (HPS) model has proven success engaging youth and improving health behaviors. Hence, we introduced DOHaD concepts to 151 pupils aged 12–15 years in three HPS programs in rural Uganda, inquired what factors would make DOHaD-related health promotion resonate with them, and discussed how they recommended making learning about DOHaD acceptable to youth. Economic factors were judged the most compelling; with nutrition and responsive care elements next in importance. Suggested approaches included: teach how good health is beneficial, what works and why, and give tools to use to achieve it, and make information positive rather than linked to later harm. Involve youth in making DOHaD learning happen, make being a parent sound interesting, and include issues meaningful to boys. These are the first data from youth charged with addressing their engagement in the DOHaD agenda.

Type
Brief Reports
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press and the International Society for Developmental Origins of Health and Disease 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Daar, AS, Singer, PA, Persad, DL, et al. Grand challenges in chronic non-communicable diseases. Nature. 2007; 450, 494496.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2. International Society for Developmental Origins of Health and Disease. The Cape Town Manifesto, November 2015. Retrieved 26 September 2016 from https://dohadsoc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/DOHaD-Society-Manifesto-Nov-17-2015.pdf.Google Scholar
3. Viner, RM, Ozer, EM, Denny, S, et al. Adolescence and the social determinants of health. Lancet. 2012; 379, 16411652.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4. St Leger, L, Young, IM. Creating the document ‘Promoting health in schools: from evidence to action’. Glob Health Promot. 2009; 16, 6971.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
5. Stewart-Brown, S. What is the evidence on school health promotion in improving health or preventing disease and, specifically, what is the effectiveness of the health promoting schools approach? Copenhagen, WHO regional Office for Europe 2006 (Health Evidence Network Report). Retrieved 1 February 2017 from http://www.euro.who.int/document/e88185.pdf.Google Scholar
6. Macnab, AJ. The Stellenbosch consensus statement on health promoting schools. Glob Health Promot. 2013; 20, 7881.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7. Tang, KC, Nutbeam, D, Aldinger, C, et al. Schools for health, education and development: a call for action. Health Promot Int. 2009; 24, 6877.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8. World Health Organization Expert Committee on Comprehensive School Health Education and Promotion. Promoting health through schools. WHO Technical Report Series. 1997; 870. Retrieved 31 January 2017 from http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/41987/1/WHO_TRS_870.pdf.Google Scholar
9. Macnab, AJ, Stewart, D, Gagnon, F. Health promoting schools: initiatives in Africa. Health Educ. 2014; 114, 246259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10. Stokols, D, Grzywacz, JG, McMahan, S, Phillips, K. Increasing the health promotive capacity of human environments. Am J Health Prom. 2003; 18, 413.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
11. Laverack, G, Mohammadi, NK. What remains for the future: strengthening community actions to become an integral part of health promotion practice. Health Promot Int. 2011; 26(Suppl. 2), ii258ii262.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
12. Cutler, DM, Lleras-Muney, A. Understanding differences in health behaviors by education. J Health Econ. 2010; 29, 128.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
13. Ranganathan, M, Lagarde, M. Promoting healthy behaviours and improving health outcomes in low and middle income countries: a review of the impact of conditional ca transfer programmes. Prev Med. 2012; 55, S95S105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14. Higgins, ST, Silverman, K, Sigmon, SC, Naito, NA. Incentives and health: an introduction. Prev Med. 2012; 55, S2S6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
15. Richards, JM, Plate, RC, Ernst, M. Neural systems underlying motivated behavior in adolescence: implications for preventive medicine. Prev Med. 2012; 55, S7S16.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
16. Turinawe, EB, Rwemisisi, JT, Musinguzi, LK, et al. Selection and performance of village health teams (VHTs) in Uganda: lessons from the natural helper model of health promotion. Hum Resour Health. 2015; 13, 73.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
17. Macnab, AJ, Mukisa, R, Mutabazi, S, Steed, R. Malaria in Uganda: school-based rapid diagnostic testing and treatment. Int J Epidemiol. 2016; 45, 17591762.Google ScholarPubMed
18. Macnab, AJ. Children’s Oral Health: the opportunity for improvement using the WHO Health Promoting School Model. Adv Public Health. 2015; 2015, 6 pp. Article ID 651836. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1155/2015/651836.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
19. Macnab, AJ, Deevska, M, Gagnon, F, Cannon, WG, Andrew, T. Asphyxial games or the ‘choking game’: A potentially fatal risk behavior. Inj Prev. 2009; 15, 4549.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
20. Koblinsky, M, Moyer, CA, Calvert, C, et al. Quality maternity care for every woman, everywhere: a call to action. Lancet. 2016; 388, 23072320.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
21. Sarkadi, A, Kristiansson, R, Oberklaid, F, Bremberg, S. Fathers’ involvement and children’s developmental outcomes: a systematic review of longitudinal studies. Acta Paediatrica. 2008; 97, 153158.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
22. Zvara, BJ, Schoppe‐Sullivan, SJ, Dush, CK. Fathers’ involvement in child health care: associations with prenatal involvement, parents’ beliefs, and maternal gatekeeping. Fam Relat. 2013; 62, 649661.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
23. Commission on Social Determinants of Health. Closing the Gap in a Generation: Health Equity Through Action on the Social Determinants of Health: Final Report of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health. 2008. World Health Organization: Geneva.Google Scholar
24. Pérez-Rodrigo, C, Aranceta, J. School-based nutrition education: lessons learned and new perspectives. Public Health Nutr. 2001; 4, 131139.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed