Loty Diop, Roos Verstraeten, and
Leah Salm
International Food Policy Research
Institute
Dakar, Senegal
November 18, Monrovia, Liberia

2
A regional platform to enable effective
policy and programmatic action on nutrition
KNOWLEDGE
GENERATION
STAKEHOLDER
ENGAGEMENT
AND LEADERSHIP
CAPACITY
STRENGTHENING
KNOWLEDGE
MOBILISATION
www.transformnutrition.org/westafrica

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Generating and synthesizing
knowledge on trends, drivers,
interventions, programs, policies, and
enabling environments for nutrition
KNOWLEDGE
GENERATION
Stakeholder
engagement
Adolescent nutrition

The Current
Landscape of
Research on
adolescent
nutrition in West
Africa: A
Systematic Map
to Guide
Decision-Making
Rainer Schwenzfeier / Save the Children

Methodology
Objective
To scope, identify,
and catalogue
existing peer-
reviewed research
on adolescent (10-
19 yrs) nutrition in
West Africa
Systematic mapping review (1999-2019)
DATA GAPS
Search syntax for
any nutrition
outcome
Data at
abstract
level
No
quality
appraisal
PROBLEM
PROGRAM
POLICY

Inclusion criteria
What’s Included?
Population Outcome
- Adolescent population (10-19years)
- Any nutrition outcome (undernutrition, overnutrition,
diet-related non-communicable diseases,
micronutrient deficiency)
- Studies including a subsection of target group where
information on adolescents can be disaggregated
Exposure Setting
- Studies reporting on prevalence and/or drivers, programs,
and policies
- West Africa (region and individual countries)
Study type Timeframe
- Any study design (peer-reviewed)
- Studies published between 1999 -2019
- English and French language

Flow chart of
systematic
mapping review
References identified in
MEDLINE
(n=2728) References excluded (n=2076)
- Animal population = 21
- Disease specific = 386
- Duplicate = 1
- No adolescents = 413
- No info = 35
- No nutrition outcomes = 1052
- Not WA = 167
- Other = 1References retrieved after
screening
(n=652)
References included in
mapping
(n=154)
References excluded after text look
up/ during extraction
(n=498)

Results – general characteristics
3
1
6
2
6
2
4
1
4
7 7
9
13 13 13
7 7
15
13
15
6
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Numberofarticles
Year
Number of articles over the past 20 years
A total of 154 studies
were identified, only
8 of these were
published in French.
Numbers increased
over time with a peak
since 2016.

Results – general characteristics
10
6
1
4
7
29
1
0
2
5
1
75
3
21
3
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Benin
Burkina Faso
Cape Verde
Cote d'Ivoire
Gambia
Ghana
Guinee
Guinee-Bissau
Liberia
Mali
Niger
Nigeria
Sierra Leone
Senegal
Togo
Nr of articles
Country
Number of articles per country
Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal
represent 74% of the
publications in the region.
69% of publications report
on anglophone countries,
30% on francophone and
1% on Portuguese.

0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
Nrofarticles
Age (years)
Age of adolescents identified in literature
10
49%
10-14 yrs old
51%
15-19 yrs old
Results – general characteristics
75%
9%
15%
1%
Adolescents included as a subset of another population ?
No Adult Child Youth

Results – general characteristics
In much of West Africa, research on adolescent nutrition is focused on identifying
nutritional problems and their drivers, NOT on interventions/ programs (9%), or
policies (0%).
30%
7%54%
9%
Articles by focus of research
Prevalence
Drivers
Prevalence and drivers
Program
Policy 86%
7%
1%
6%
Articles by study design
Observational
Experimental
Systematic review
Unknown

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Results - outcomes
Most of studies report on overweight/obesity, undernutrition, and diet-related
NCDs. Diet related-NCD and overweight/obesity is a new tendency in research
along research on undernutrition.
58
14 19
69
38
20 5
Nrofarticles
Nutrition outcomes
Undernutrition
Micronutrient deficiency
Anaemia
Overweight/obesity
Diet-related NCD
Dietary intake/ practices
Knowledge/ attitudes/
perception

13
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
NROFARTICLES
Nutrition outcomes over time
Undernutrition Mirconutrient deficiency Anaemia Overweight/ obesity Diet related NCD Diet intake/ practices Knowledge/ attitudes/ perception
Results - outcomes
Volume of studies on overweight/obesity, diet related NCDs and diet practices
has increased over time.

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Results - outcomes
21%
39%
7%
5%
8%
12%
32%
26%
19%
12%
11%
4%
2%
2%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
2010-2019
1999-2009
Nutrition outcomes over time
Undernutrition Mirconutrient deficiency Anaemia Overweight/ obesity
Diet related NCD Diet intake/ practices Knowledge/ attitudes/ perception
Proportion of studies reporting on undernutrition and anaemia has decreased
between 1999-2009 vs 2010-2019.

Results - outcomes
25
10
14
7
2
4
4
3
3
40
12
14
27
6
3
5
8
3
1
3
1
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Nigeria (n=75)
Ghana (n=29)
Senegal (n=21)
Nr of articles
Country nutrition outcomes
Knowledge/ attitudes/ perception Diet intake/ practices Diet related NCD Overweight/obesity
Anaemia Micronutrient deficiency Undernutrition

Results - outcomes
Most articles
report on the
prevalence
and/or drivers of
nutrition
outcomes, with
none reporting
on policy and few
programs

Results - Program studies by outcome
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Country Type of intervention Outcomes (adolescent age group)
Gambia Supplementation of mothers (Calcium) Undernutrition (10-19yrs old)
Supplementation of mothers (protein energy) Undernutrition, overweight/obesity,
and diet related NCD (11-17yrs old)
Ghana
School feeding Undernutrition (10-12yrs old)
Increased animal source foods Undernutrition (13-15yrs old)
Nigeria
Physical activity Diet-related NCD (10-19yrs old)
Behaviour change Anaemia (12-18yrs old)
Benin Nutrition education Anaemia (12-17yrs old)
Burkina Faso School gardens Undernutrition (12-14yrs old)
Mali Integrated agriculture, nutrition, and education Undernutrition (10-17yrs old)
Senegal Nutrition education Nutrition knowledge (15-17yrs old)

Nutrition-relevant
Policies in West
Africa, Nigeria and
Burkina Faso: a
comprehensive
review
18

19
Policies and programs in Nigeria and Burkina Faso were
included if…
Nutrition-relevant Implementation Multi-sectoral
Aim to address at
least one key
nutrition MIYCN
indicator
All relevant sectors
including Nutrition,
Agriculture, Food
systems, WASH, Health
(ANC), Social
protection,
ECD/Education, etc.
Either currently in
use or in the
advanced drafting
stage
Methodology

Outputs: Evidence notes

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Adolescents addressed
as beneficiaries in 11
out of 19 nutrition-
relevant policies
including nutrition,
health, agriculture,
environment,
education/research,
and social areas
Only two out of these
report on the nutrition
context for adolescents
Burkina FasoNigeriaRegional
Adolescents addressed
as beneficiaries in 7
out of 16 nutrition-
relevant policies
including nutrition,
health, agriculture,
and social areas
Only 1 out of 16
policies report on the
nutrition context for
adolescents
Adolescents addressed
as beneficiaries in 4
out of 6 nutrition-
relevant policies
including nutrition,
health, agricuture, and
gender
None of the policies
report on the nutrition
context for adolescents

Challenges and
gaps in
adolescent
nutrition in WA

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Challenges and gaps
Research over the past 20 years has steadily increased,
yet remains limited in most of the WA countries.
Research remains largely observational, despite the call
for more interventions on adolescent nutrition
No policy in the region specifically address adolescents
but several of them in Burkina Faso and Nigeria identify
adolescents as beneficiaries

Tracking nutrition knowledge
and evidence in West Africa
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