In post-transitional countries, obesity disproportionally affects women. Longitudinal studies can detect high-risk groups in whom to target actions. We investigated the magnitude and velocity of BMI changes in Chilean women of reproductive age and evaluated whether these trends vary in specific groups.

Longitudinal study. We measured weight and height in 2007 (baseline) and again in 2010 (follow-up); we estimated change in BMI (weight/height2) within the 3-year period and assessed its relationship with age, years of education and parity, collected at baseline and follow-up using a questionnaire.

Population-based cohort of low- to middle-income Chilean women.

Seven hundred and sixty-one women of reproductive age (mean 32·0 (sd 7·0) years), mothers of children who participate in the Growth and Obesity Cohort Study (GOCS).

At baseline, 61 % of women had BMI ≥ 25·0 kg/m2. After 3 years, women gained on average 2·6 kg and obesity (BMI ≥ 30·0 kg/m2) increased by 23 % (12 % new obesity cases). Women with normal nutritional status gained more BMI than obese women (1·4 v. 0·6 kg/m2, P < 0·001). An increase in parity was positively associated with BMI change, independently of age, nutritional status and education (P < 0·05). Age and education were not associated with BMI change after controlling for other factors (P > 0·05).

In Chile, a post-transitional country, we observed an alarming increase in obesity among women of reproductive age. Our results indicate that in this population actions need to be targeted at all women irrespective of their nutritional status. A key component of these policies should be avoiding excessive weight gain during pregnancy.

To explore barriers and solutions to addressing physical inactivity and prolonged sitting in the adult population of Oman.

Qualitative study involving semi-structured interviews that took place from October 2011 to January 2012. Participants were recruited through purposive sampling. Data collection and analysis was an iterative process; later interviews explored emerging themes. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed and continued until data saturation; this occurred by the tenth interviewee. Thematic content analysis was carried out, guided by an ecological model of health behaviour.

Muscat, Oman.

Ten mid-level public health managers.

Barriers for physical inactivity were grouped around four themes: (i) intrapersonal (lack of motivation, awareness and time); (ii) social (norms restricting women's participation in outdoor activity, low value of physical activity); (iii) environment (lack of places to be active, weather); and (iv) policy (ineffective health communication, limited resources). Solutions focused on culturally sensitive interventions at the environment (building sidewalks and exercise facilities) and policy levels (strengthening existing interventions and coordinating actions with relevant sectors). Participants’ responses regarding sitting time were similar to, but much more limited than those related to physical inactivity, except for community participation and voluntarism, which were given greater emphasis as possible solutions to reduce sitting time.

Given the increasing prevalence of chronic disease in Oman and the Arabian Gulf, urgent action is required to implement gender-relevant public health policies and programmes to address physical inactivity, a key modifiable risk factor. Additionally, research on the determinants of physical inactivity and prolonged sitting time is required to guide policy makers.

To outline a framework and a process for assessing the needs for capacity development to achieve nutrition objectives, particularly those targeting maternal and child undernutrition.

Commentary and conceptual framework.

Low- and middle-income countries.

A global movement to invest in a package of essential nutrition interventions to reduce maternal and child undernutrition in low- and middle-income countries is building momentum. Capacity to act in nutrition is known to be minimal in most low- and middle-income countries, and there is a need for conceptual clarity about capacity development as a strategic construct and the processes required to realise the ability to achieve population nutrition and health objectives. The framework for nutrition capacity development proposed recognises capacity to be determined by a range of factors across at least four levels, including system, organisational, workforce and community levels. This framework provides a scaffolding to guide systematic assessment of capacity development needs which serves to inform strategic planning for capacity development.

Capacity development is a critical prerequisite for achieving nutrition and health objectives, but is currently constrained by ambiguous and superficial conceptualisations of what capacity development involves and how it can be realised. The current paper provides a framework to assist this conceptualisation, encourage debate and ongoing refinement, and progress capacity development efforts.

There is a recognised need to strengthen capacity in the nutrition in emergencies sector and for greater clarity on the role of emergency nutritionists and the skills they require. Competency frameworks are an important tool for human resource development and have been developed for several other humanitarian sectors. We therefore developed a technical competency framework for practitioners in nutrition in emergencies.

Existing competency frameworks were reviewed and interviews conducted to explore methods used in developing competency frameworks for other sectors. Competencies were identified through interviews with field experts, feedback from course trainees, academic course content and job specifications. Competencies were then categorised and behavioural indicators developed for each. The draft framework was then reviewed by members of the Global Nutrition Cluster and modified in an iterative process.

Global.

Not applicable.

A wide range of competencies were identified as essential for nutritionists working in emergencies, covering technical skills and general core competencies. The proposed framework contains twenty competency areas with 161 behavioural indicators categorised into three levels, corresponding to the requirements of progressively more senior roles. Many of the competencies are common across development and emergency nutrition.

The proposed technical competency framework should prove to be a valuable tool in creating standards within the sector and promoting effective capacity strengthening and professionalisation. Continued research is needed to validate the framework, optimise methods for assessment, develop approaches to integrate it within the sector and measure its impact on performance.

(i) To assess change in confidence in having conversations that support parents with healthy eating and physical activity post-training. (ii) To assess change in staff competence in using ‘open discovery’ questions (those generally beginning with ‘how’ and ‘what’ that help individuals reflect and identify barriers and solutions) post-training. (iii) To examine the relationship between confidence and competence post-training.

A pre–post evaluation of ‘Healthy Conversation Skills’, a staff training intervention.

Sure Start Children's Centres in Southampton, England.

A total of 145 staff working in Sure Start Children's Centres completed the training, including play workers (43 %) and community development or family support workers (35 %).

We observed an increase in median confidence rating for having conversations about healthy eating and physical activity (both P < 0·001), and in using ‘open discovery’ questions (P < 0·001), after staff attended the ‘Healthy Conversation Skills’ training. We also found a positive relationship between the use of ‘open discovery’ questions and confidence in having conversations about healthy eating post-training (r = 0·21, P = 0·01), but a non-significant trend was observed for having conversations about physical activity (r = 0·15, P = 0·06).

The ‘Healthy Conversation Skills’ training proved effective at increasing the confidence of staff working at Sure Start Children's Centres to have more productive conversations with parents about healthy eating. Wider implementation of these skills may be a useful public health nutrition capacity building strategy to help community workers support families with young children to eat more healthy foods.

To evaluate general knowledge about nutrition in an Italian population of children, pre-adolescents and adolescents.

Knowledge about nutrition-related items such as healthy eating, breakfast, snacks, fast food, beverages, fruits and vegetables, cereals and tubers, meat/fish/legumes/eggs, milk and dairy products, fats and dressings, and sweets was analysed by means of a self-administered questionnaire (QuesCA IT) containing thirty-one questions, that was translated and adapted from a Swiss version (QuesCA) previously used in Geneva and Vaud.

North of Italy (Bergamo, Milan).

Students (n 614) belonging to two different age groups: 9–11 years (GR1) and 12–16 years (GR2).

Data analysis showed that nutritional knowledge varied in relation to the age of the participants, increasing in particular in the older group, although this difference was not statistically significant for all the considered items. Nutritional knowledge also varied in relation to the gender of the participants, with females in particular seeming to possess better cognition. For each age group there was poor knowledge about the items healthy diet, snacks, milk and dairy products, meat/fish/legumes/eggs, and fats and dressings. Moreover, the percentage of participants who declared own knowledge as insufficient was higher in GR2 compared with GR1.

The present research demonstrates a lack of knowledge about the main concepts of healthy nutrition both in the youngest and oldest participants of the survey. This evidence, together with the presence of higher self-consciousness in GR2, should be taken into account in specific educational interventions during the school period.