Description
Malnutrition in all its forms is a leading cause for disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) globally. One in three people in the world suffers from at least one form of malnutrition, such as obesity or micronutrient deficiencies. Poor nutrition is driven by complex, interrelated environmental, social, cultural, political, economic, and behavioral factors. Regulatory and/or policy interventions across sectors are needed but face pushback from the system, i.e., vested interests. Methods from systems science have been advocated as useful tools to address this complexity and find sustainable solutions to malnutrition in all its forms.Although concepts and terminology of systems approaches have existed for many years, empirical knowledge about their application and effectiveness for public health nutrition remains very limited. Evidence is particularly lacking from low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). Uncertainty remains in terms of how an authentic systems approach can be applied in practice, how to engage non-academic partners – especially those who have the capacity and power to change health environments and policies – and how this relates to evidence standards.
In this special edition we sought contributions from international, national, and local health organisations, policymakers as well as academic authors working in population nutrition and related fields. It comprises nine papers, representing contributions from 72 authors across institutions in 13 countries. The contributions provide insight into what these multiple partners are hoping to achieve from the application of systems approaches, how these projects might be conceived and presented as a research protocol, examples of their application in practice and proposed guidelines for the reporting of such studies.
In summary, this special issue demonstrates a growing and comprehensive application of systems thinking principles in public health research. However, there is a pressing need for clearer definitions and better reporting of these approaches. We recommend that journals and authors adopt such standards, similar to those used for other methodologies such as randomized controlled trials (RCTs) or systematic reviews.
| Period | Feb 2022 → 2023 |
|---|---|
| Type of journal | Journal |
| ISSN | 2296-2565 |
| Degree of Recognition | International |