scholarly journals Widowhood, Socio-Economic Status, Health and Wellbeing in Low and Middle-Income Countries

2015 ◽  
Vol 51 (10) ◽  
pp. 1374-1388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Lloyd-Sherlock ◽  
Barbara Corso ◽  
Nadia Minicuci
Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1038
Author(s):  
Ana Carolina B. Leme ◽  
Sophia Hou ◽  
Regina Mara Fisberg ◽  
Mauro Fisberg ◽  
Jess Haines

Research comparing the adherence to food-based dietary guidelines (FBDGs) across countries with different socio-economic status is lacking, which may be a concern for developing nutrition policies. The aim was to report on the adherence to FBDGs in high-income (HIC) and low-and-middle-income countries (LMIC). A systematic review with searches in six databases was performed up to June 2020. English language articles were included if they investigated a population of healthy children and adults (7–65 years), using an observational or experimental design evaluating adherence to national FBDGs. Findings indicate that almost 40% of populations in both HIC and LMIC do not adhere to their national FBDGs. Fruit and vegetables (FV) were most adhered to and the prevalence of adhering FV guidelines was between 7% to 67.3%. HIC have higher consumption of discretionary foods, while results were mixed for LMIC. Grains and dairy were consumed below recommendations in both HIC and LMIC. Consumption of animal proteins (>30%), particularly red meat, exceeded the recommendations. Individuals from HIC and LMIC may be falling short of at least one dietary recommendation from their country’s guidelines. Future health policies, behavioral-change strategies, and dietary guidelines may consider these results in their development.


Author(s):  
Lakshmi Vijayakumar ◽  
Sujit John ◽  
A.T. Jotheeswaran

Suicide is a global public health problem, with the majority of suicides occurring in low- and middle-income countries. The UNHCR reported that in 2017 there were 25.4 million refugees, with the majority (85%) being hosted by developing countries, which have limited infrastructure, healthcare systems, and are often politically and economically unstable. A review of suicidal behaviour among refugees reveals a prevalence of 3.4–40%. Female sex, higher education and socio-economic status, exposure to trauma, presence of psychological disorders, long stay in detention centres, and rejection of asylum status are associated with increased suicidal risk. Globally, data for rates of suicide among refugee groups are not available and any interventions to reduce suicide among refugees have received scant attention. A theoretical model for understanding suicide risk in refugees is proposed in this chapter and the possible interventions discussed.


Author(s):  
Mary McCauley ◽  
Nynke van den Broek

Maternal morbidity describes complications that have a significant effect on women during and after pregnancy, and are a leading cause of ill-health among women of reproductive age, especially in low- and middle-income countries. With the introduction of the new Sustainable Development Goals, the scope of global maternal health targets has been expanded, moving from a focus on preventing maternal mortality to formulating targets and emphasising the importance of maternal health and wellbeing. This chapter introduces the new concept of maternal morbidity, suggests how this relates to maternal mortality, and summarises what is known about the burden of maternal morbidity globally and what interventions and research are needed to improve maternal health during and after pregnancy, with an emphasis on the context of low- and middle-income countries.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary McCauley ◽  
Shamsa Zafar ◽  
Nynke van den Broek

Abstract Background For every maternal death, 20 to 30 women are estimated to have morbidities related to pregnancy or childbirth. Much of this burden of disease is in women in low- and middle-income countries. Maternal multimorbidity can include physical, psychological and social ill-health. Limited data exist about the associations between these morbidities. In order to address all health needs that women may have when attending for maternity care, it is important to be able to identify all types of morbidities and understand how each morbidity influences other aspects of women’s health and wellbeing during pregnancy and after childbirth. Methods We systematically reviewed published literature in English, describing measurement of two or more types of maternal morbidity and/or associations between morbidities during pregnancy or after childbirth for women in low- and middle-income countries. CINAHL plus, Global Health, Medline and Web of Science databases were searched from 2007 to 2018. Outcomes were descriptions, occurrence of all maternal morbidities and associations between these morbidities. Narrative analysis was conducted. Results Included were 38 papers reporting about 36 studies (71,229 women; 60,911 during pregnancy and 10,318 after childbirth in 17 countries). Most studies (26/36) were cross-sectional surveys. Self-reported physical ill-health was documented in 26 studies, but no standardised data collection tools were used. In total, physical morbidities were included in 28 studies, psychological morbidities in 32 studies and social morbidities in 27 studies with three studies assessing associations between all three types of morbidity and 30 studies assessing associations between two types of morbidity. In four studies, clinical examination and/or basic laboratory investigations were also conducted. Associations between physical and psychological morbidities were reported in four studies and between psychological and social morbidities in six. Domestic violence increased risks of physical ill-health in two studies. Conclusions There is a lack of standardised, comprehensive and routine measurements and tools to assess the burden of maternal multimorbidity in women during pregnancy and after childbirth. Emerging data suggest significant associations between the different types of morbidity. Systematic review registration number PROSPERO CRD42018079526.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary McCauley ◽  
Shamsa Zafar ◽  
Nynke van den Broek

Abstract Background For every maternal death, 20 to 30 women are estimated to have morbidity related to pregnancy or childbirth. Much of this burden of disease is in women in low- and middle-income countries. Maternal multimorbidity can include physical, psychological, and social ill-health. Limited data exist about the associations between these morbidities. In order to address all health needs that women may have when attending maternity care, it is important to be able to identify all types of morbidities and understand how each morbidity influences other aspects of women’s health and wellbeing during pregnancy and after childbirth.Methods We systematically reviewed published literature, in English, describing measurement of two or more types of maternal morbidity, and/or associations between morbidities, during pregnancy or after childbirth for women in low- and middle-income countries. CINAHL plus, Global Health, Medline and Web of Science databases were searched from 2007-2018. Outcomes were descriptions, occurrence of all maternal morbidities, and associations between these morbidities. Narrative analysis was conducted. Results 38 papers reporting about 36 studies were included (71,229 women; 60,911 during and 10,318 after pregnancy from 17 countries). Most studies (26/36) were cross-sectional surveys. Self-reported physical ill-health was documented in 26 studies, but no standardised data collection tools were used. In total, physical morbidity was included in 28 studies; psychological morbidity in 32 studies and social morbidity in 27 studies; with three studies assessing associations between all three types of morbidity and 30 studies assessing associations between two types of morbidity. In four studies, clinical examination and/or basic laboratory investigations were also conducted. Associations between physical and psychological morbidity were reported in four studies and between psychological and social morbidity in six. Domestic violence increased risks of physical ill-health in two studies. Conclusions Lack of standardised, comprehensive and routine measurements and tools exist to assess the burden of maternal multimorbidity in women during pregnancy and after childbirth. Emerging data suggest significant associations between the different types of morbidity.


Urban Science ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 76
Author(s):  
Thanh Phuong Ho ◽  
Mark Stevenson ◽  
Jason Thompson ◽  
Tuan Quoc Nguyen

Urban design has been shown to play a vital role in promoting the health and wellbeing of urban citizens. However, studies of microscale urban design are underrepresented in comparison with macroscale urban design, especially from low- and middle-income countries in Asia, where urban forms are traditionally compact, complex and with multiple layers and varied urban typologies. The study evaluated microscale urban design qualities of streets (n = 40) across five urban typologies in Hanoi—a typical city in a low- and middle-income country in Asia. The study found that urban typologies and their characteristics have particular impacts on urban design qualities. Old and high-density urban typologies tend to report higher urban design qualities than modern and low-density typologies. Urban design qualities are also significantly associated with the number of pedestrians on the streets. Compared to Western cities, the urban design qualities in Hanoi are substantially different, especially in terms of imageability and complexity, reflecting the differences in urban design and cultural context between cities from various regions. Overall, the study contributes to our understanding of urban design circumstances in Hanoi, providing policymakers, planners, urban designers and architects with important insights for sustainable urban design policies, strategies and interventions.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary McCauley ◽  
Shamsa Zafar ◽  
Nynke van den Broek

Abstract BackgroundFor every maternal death, it is estimated that 20 or 30 women have morbidity related to pregnancy or childbirth. The majority of this burden of disease is in women living in low and middle income countries. Maternal morbidity includes physical, psychological and social ill-health. There is limited data on the strength of association between these co-morbidities. In order to address all health needs that a woman may have when attending for maternity care, it is important to be able to identify all types of co-morbidities and understand how each co-morbidity influences other aspects of a woman’s health and wellbeing during and after pregnancy.MethodsWe systematically reviewed published literature, in English, describing measurement of two or more types of maternal morbidity, and/or associations between co-morbidities, during or after pregnancy and childbirth for women living in low- and middle-income countries. CINAHL plus, Global Health, Medline and Web of Science databases were searched from 2007-2018. Outcomes were descriptions, occurrence of maternal co-morbidities, and associations between these co-morbidities. Narrative analysis was conducted.Results38 papers reporting on 36 studies were included (71,229 women; 60,911 during and 10,318 after pregnancy from 17 countries). The majority of studies (26/36) were cross-sectional surveys. Self-reported physical ill-health was documented in 26 studies but there was no standardised data collection tool used. In total, physical morbidity was included in 28 studies; psychological morbidity in 32 studies and social morbidity in 27 studies; with 3 studies assessing association between all three types of morbidity and 30 studies assessing association between two types of morbidity. In four studies, clinical examination and/or basic laboratory investigations were also conducted. There is reported association between physical and psychological morbidity (four studies); and association between psychological and social morbidity (six studies). Domestic violence increases risk of physical ill-health (two studies).ConclusionsThere is a lack of standardised, comprehensive and routine measurements and tools used to assess the burden maternal morbidity and co-morbidity in women during and after pregnancy. There is emerging data to suggest strong associations between the different types of morbidity.


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