Conectar
While health research about persons of South Asian ancestry has been conducted for decades in Canada, it often uses pathologising approaches that fail to consider historical, social and political factors shaping health disparities. Further, this research rarely engages South Asian communities in meaningful ways, reinforcing feelings of disconnect and longstanding mistrust. Greater collaboration and transparency are needed to build trust and generate credible findings. The aims of this research protocol are to (1) examine how community engagement has been implemented in health research involving South Asian populations, (2) explore the experiences of both South Asian community members and academics involved in community-engaged research and (3) develop a framework guiding health research with and for South Asian communities in Canada, titled PRinciples to Operationalize Community Engagement, Equity, and Sustainability in South Asian Health Research in Canada (PROCESS).
This ongoing codesigned concurrent multimethods study is being conducted with community partners across Canadian provinces. First, the scoping review is examining how community engagement has been operationalised in health research involving South Asian populations in Canada. We are performing a search in Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), MEDLINE, Web of Science, Scopus and PsycINFO databases for articles published between 2003 and 2024 referring to the concept of community engagement in South Asian health research. Two reviewers are independently completing abstract and full-text reviews based on preselected eligibility criteria. Data are being extracted from peer-reviewed studies using a data extraction framework. Findings will be aggregated and synthesised using descriptive content analyses. Second, a qualitative descriptive study is being conducted to explore the experiences of diverse stakeholders, including academics and community partners who are partaking in academic health research focused on South Asians. Semistructured interviews are being analysed using an inductive thematic content analysis. Results from the scoping review and qualitative interviews will be triangulated to detect emerging themes and patterns, which will enable the identification of principles to be incorporated within a draft of the PROCESS framework. In the final phase, we will use a modified Delphi process to iteratively codevelop the PROCESS framework with community partners and researchers across Canada.
The Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences Institutional Review Board at McGill University approved the study’s protocol (24-05-080). Results will be submitted for publication in peer-reviewed journals and presented in academic and community forums. Results will also be shared with diverse audiences across Canada through multiple formats, including articles, conferences, infographics and social media, with the aim of raising awareness and promoting the adoption of research principles and practices for engaging South Asian communities in health research. This research received funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (Grant #507768).
by Birtukan Gizachew Ayal, Abebe Kassa Geto, Sefineh Fenta Feleke, Ali Yimer, Atitegeb Abera Kidie, Natnael Amare Tesfa, Esuyawkal Mislu, Molla Hailu, Hassen Ahmed Yesuf
BackgroundSugar-sweetened beverages or snacks are limited in nutritional value. Excess consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages or snacks in early childhood is associated with inadequate micronutrient intake, being overweight or obese, and developing chronic diseases later in life. There is scarcity of information specific to sugar-sweetened beverages or snacks consumption prevalence and its determinants in Sub-Saharan Africa Countries. This study aimed to determine the pooled prevalence of sugar-sweetened beverage or snack consumption and its determinants among infants and young children aged 6–23 months.
MethodsA cross-sectional study design was conducted using demographic and health survey data conducted from 2019 to 2023 from twelve Sub-Saharan African countries. A weighted sample of 23,145 children aged 6–23 months was included in the study. Multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression analysis was used to determine the factors associated with the dependent variable. The level of statistical significance was declared with a p-value Results
The pooled prevalence of Sugar-sweetened beverage or snack consumption was 25.40% (95% CI: 24.84% − 25.96%). In multilevel multivariable logistic regression analysis, children aged between 9−11(AOR = 1.95 95% CI: 1.62, 2.35), 12–17(AOR = 2.83; 95% CI: 2.26, 3.54), and 18−23 months (AOR = 3.77;95% CI: 3.07, 4.63), media exposure (AOR = 1.59; 95% CI:1.28, 1.98), children from households with middle (AOR = 1.39; 95% CI: 1.11, 1.73) and rich (AOR = 2.31; 95% CI: 1.87, 2.85) wealth status, post natal checkup (AOR = 1.18; 95%CI:1.05,1.33), maternal ANC visit (AOR = 1.60; 95% CI: 1.15, 2.22), and high community media exposure ((AOR = 2.22;95%CI:1.65,5.81) were positively associated significant factors whereas currently breast feeding children (AOR = 0.70; 95% CI: 0.59,0.82), older age at first birth (AOR = 0.88,95% CI: 0.81, 0.96), presences of more than one under-5 children in the household (AOR = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.80, 0.99), mothers don’t perceive distance to health facility as big problem (AOR = 0.86; 95% CI:0.76, 0.98), and children reside in rural (AOR = 0.83;95%CI:0.68,0.95) were negatively associated with sugar sweetened beverage or snack consumption.
ConclusionIn this study, one out of four children consumed sugar-sweetened beverages or snacks. Current age of child, current breastfeeding status of child, media exposure, wealth index, maternal age at first birth, post natal checkup, maternal ANC visit, number of under-five children in the household, distance to health facility, place of residence, and community level media exposure were significant factors with sugar-sweetened beverage or snack consumption. Therefore, it is recommended to raise awareness about the health risks of sugar-sweetened beverage and snack consumption, enforce restrictions on their advertisement, strengthen nutrition-focused counseling within maternal and child health services with special attention for older age children, promote breastfeeding, and give special attention to challenges related to health facility accessibility, and support for young mothers.
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