The global diet and activity research (GDAR) network: a global public health partnership to address upstream NCD risk fa

  • PDF / 1,068,248 Bytes
  • 11 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
  • 44 Downloads / 175 Views

DOWNLOAD

REPORT


COMMENTARY

Open Access

The global diet and activity research (GDAR) network: a global public health partnership to address upstream NCD risk factors in urban low and middle-income contexts Tolu Oni1,2* , Felix Assah3, Agnes Erzse4, Louise Foley1, Ishtar Govia5, Karen J. Hofman4, Estelle Victoria Lambert6, Lisa K. Micklesfield7, Maylene Shung-King2, Joanne Smith5, Eleanor Turner-Moss1, Nigel Unwin1, Pamela Wadende8, James Woodcock1, Jean Claude Mbanya3, Shane A. Norris7, Charles O. Obonyo8, Marshall Tulloch-Reid5, Nicholas J. Wareham1 and on behalf of the GDAR network

Abstract Background: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of death globally. While upstream approaches to tackle NCD risk factors of poor quality diets and physical inactivity have been trialled in high income countries (HICs), there is little evidence from low and middle-income countries (LMICs) that bear a disproportionate NCD burden. Sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean are therefore the focus regions for a novel global health partnership to address upstream determinants of NCDs. Partnership: The Global Diet and Activity research Network (GDAR Network) was formed in July 2017 with funding from the UK National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Global Health Research Units and Groups Programme. We describe the GDAR Network as a case example and a potential model for research generation and capacity strengthening for others committed to addressing the upstream determinants of NCDs in LMICs. We highlight the dual equity targets of research generation and capacity strengthening in the description of the four work packages. The work packages focus on learning from the past through identifying evidence and policy gaps and priorities, understanding the present through adolescent lived experiences of healthy eating and physical activity, and co-designing future interventions with non-academic stakeholders. Conclusion: We present five lessons learned to date from the GDAR Network activities that can benefit other global health research partnerships. We close with a summary of the GDAR Network contribution to cultivating sustainable capacity strengthening and cutting-edge policy-relevant research as a beacon to exemplify the need for such collaborative groups. Keywords: Upstream determinants, Non-communicable diseases, Diet, Physical activity, Partnerships, Global health, LMICs

* Correspondence: [email protected] 1 MRC Epidemiology Unit, Institute of Metabolic Sciences Building, Addenbrookes Hospital, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 0QQ, UK 2 Research Initiative for Cities Health and Equity (RICHE), School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s). 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit t