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Beyond the dyad: making Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) interventions more inclusive

Part of: DOHaD on International Women's Day 2020 Advancing the DOHaD Agenda in Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 August 2017

M. Pentecost Open the ORCID record for M. Pentecost [Opens in a new window] ,
F. C. Ross  and
A. Macnab
M. Pentecost*
Affiliation:
Institute for Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK Anthropology, School of African and Gender Studies, Anthropology and Linguistics, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
F. C. Ross
Affiliation:
Anthropology, School of African and Gender Studies, Anthropology and Linguistics, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
A. Macnab
Affiliation:
Wallenberg Research Centre, Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa Department of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
*
*Address for correspondence: M. Pentecost, Institute for Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford, 53 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 6PE, UK. (Email [email protected])
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Abstract

Pregnant women, children under 2 and the first thousand days of life have been principal targets for Developmental Origins of Health and Disease interventions. This paradigm has been criticized for laying responsibility for health outcomes on pregnant women and mothers and through the thousand days focus inadvertently deflecting attention from other windows for intervention. Drawing on insights from the South African context, this commentary argues for integrated and inclusive interventions that encompass broader social framings. First, future interventions should include a wider range of actors. Second, broader action frameworks should encompass life-course approaches that identify multiple windows of opportunity for intervention. Using two examples – the inclusion of men, and engagement with adolescents – this commentary offers strategies for producing more inclusive interventions by using a broader social framework.

Keywords

adolescentsdyadfathersinclusive frameworkslife-course
Type
Brief Reports
Information
Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease , Volume 9 , Issue 1: Themed Issue: DOHaD AFRICA , February 2018 , pp. 10 - 14
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Copyright
© Cambridge University Press and the International Society for Developmental Origins of Health and Disease 2017 

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