Changemaker

The Changemaker is a 13 Partner Institutions’ Consortium spanning from Burkina Faso to Kenya, Tanzania, Sweden, Germany, Finland, and USA. In collaboration with primary beneficiaries and key stakeholders we aim to implement & evaluate a sustainable health intervention program on health, nutrition, & environmental outcomes for the primary prevention of adolescent obesity & related non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in three rapidly urbanizing cities in Burkina Faso, Kenya, Tanzania.

Background: There is an increasing epidemic of adolescent obesity that can contribute to adult obesity, morbidity & NCDs in a broader sense. Sustainable health interventions in urban low- and middle-income countries are critical in addressing lifestyle factors that contribute to obesity, diabetes & hypertension in later life, such as unhealthy dietary habits, inactivity & sedentary behaviors while shaping urban environments. Considering obesity is a complex issue that is influenced by wide range of interconnected factors, such as policy, environment, social, economic, cultural, behavioral, commercial, & biological determinants, a whole-systems approach that converges multiple sectors (i.e., health, education, environment, and agriculture) and stakeholders (i.e., adolescents, caregivers, staff, local government, communities, policymakers & implementers) are needed for obesity prevention in LMICs.

Changemaker will be implemented through seven Work Packages (WP), as illustrated below.

Our strategy: Evidence-based strategies will be adapted to context through a co-design process for sustainable health interventions.

Our evaluation: 3 cluster-RCTs in secondary schools, within the framework of urban Health & Demographic Surveillance Systems, implementation, process evaluation & cost-effective evaluation.

Our expected results: Evidence of how to implement and scale a sustainable health intervention. Estimate a mean difference in BMI of 0.175 which could lead to reduction of 5% in the prevalence of obesity.