Obesity Kuznets Curve conjecture assessment in African economies: conditioning effects of urbanization, food, and trade using gender-based regional analysis.

IF 5.9 2区 医学 Q1 PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH
Wenxin Wang, Isaac Adjei Mensah, Samuel Atingabili, Akoto Yaw Omari-Sasu, Emmanuel Nouwati, Clement Yenube Kunkuaboor, Emma Serwaa Obobisa, Mu Qiao
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: Obesity is recognized as a significant health challenge in Africa, contributing to the double burden of malnutrition and elevating the risks of diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension. Existing studies on the Obesity Kuznets Curve (OKC) assessment overlook Africa's unique socio-economic and gender-specific dynamics. In light of the claim that different socioeconomic characteristics significantly influence the prevalence of obesity in different nations, this study examines the nonlinear relationship between economic growth and each of the obesity prevalence in males, females, and both sexes, respectively, while accounting for the effects of urbanization, trade, and food production.

Methods: The study employs a panel data design to analyse the OKC hypothesis in a multivariate non-linear framework. The study focusses on Africa, with the study units consisting of African countries analysed within the framework of regional groupings and differentiated by obesity prevalence in males, females and both sexes correspondingly. Specifically, the study utilised panel data of 45 African nations sub-panelled into Eastern, Western, Central and Southern regions during the period from 2000 to 2020. The primary outcome variable is obesity prevalence, while the key exposure variable is economic growth. The study also considers trade openness, urbanization and food production as additional covariates influencing obesity prevalence to provide a nuanced analysis. Considering the existence of residual cross-sectional dependence and heterogeneity issue in the panel data, we applied the novel Biased Comment Method of Method estimator using the dynamic fixed-effect model as the main method to ensure robust and reliable estimates. This novel approach allows the study to address unobserved heterogeneity and interdependencies across regional economies.

Results: The principal findings demonstrated a distinct pattern of the OKC (non-linear relationship between the country's economic growth and obesity) when analysing prevalence of obesity in both sexes collectively and also when considering obesity prevalence in males and females separately across the geographical panels used. The results further showed that trade openness is positively associated with obesity prevalence in males and females separately together with both sexes collectively across all regional classifications. However, the effect of urbanization, and food production on obesity prevalence in males, obesity prevalence in females and obesity prevalence in both sexes correspondingly varied across the regional classifications.

Conclusion: Our analysis leads to specific policy recommendations, including the development of robust, regionally tailored health policies aimed at preventing obesity across Africa. These include promoting healthy diets through subsidies on nutritious foods, regulating trade polices to limit unhealthy food imports and integrating urban planning to encourage active lifestyles. Considering the rapid economic expansion, urbanization, trade liberalization and food production in many African nation, these strategies ought to address regional and gender-specific dynamics while aligning with global development goals such as SDG 3 (good health and well-being) and SDG2 (zero hunger), to effectively mitigate the rising prevalence of obesity.

非洲经济中的肥胖库兹涅茨曲线猜想评估:使用基于性别的区域分析的城市化、食品和贸易的调节效应。
背景:肥胖在非洲被认为是一项重大的健康挑战,造成营养不良的双重负担,并增加糖尿病、心脏病和高血压的风险。关于肥胖库兹涅茨曲线评估的现有研究忽视了非洲独特的社会经济和性别动态。鉴于不同的社会经济特征显著影响不同国家的肥胖患病率,本研究分别考察了经济增长与男性、女性和两性肥胖患病率之间的非线性关系,同时考虑了城市化、贸易和食品生产的影响。方法:采用面板数据设计,在多元非线性框架下对OKC假设进行分析。这项研究的重点是非洲,研究单位由非洲国家组成,在区域分组框架内进行分析,并相应地按男性、女性和两性的肥胖流行程度加以区分。具体来说,这项研究利用了2000年至2020年期间45个非洲国家的面板数据,这些国家被划分为东部、西部、中部和南部地区。主要的结果变量是肥胖患病率,而关键的暴露变量是经济增长。该研究还将贸易开放、城市化和粮食生产作为影响肥胖患病率的额外协变量,以提供细致入微的分析。考虑到面板数据中存在残差横断面依赖和异质性问题,我们采用了以动态固定效应模型为主要方法的方法估计器的新颖的有偏评论方法,以保证估计的鲁棒性和可靠性。这种新颖的方法使研究能够解决区域经济之间未观察到的异质性和相互依赖性。结果:主要研究结果表明,在集体分析两性肥胖患病率以及在使用的地理面板中分别考虑男性和女性肥胖患病率时,OKC(国家经济增长与肥胖之间的非线性关系)具有明显的模式。结果进一步表明,在所有区域分类中,贸易开放程度分别与男性和女性的肥胖患病率呈正相关,也与两性的肥胖患病率呈正相关。然而,城市化和粮食生产对男性肥胖患病率、女性肥胖患病率和两性肥胖患病率的影响相应地在不同的区域分类中有所不同。结论:我们的分析得出了具体的政策建议,包括制定旨在预防整个非洲肥胖的强有力的、适合区域的卫生政策。这些措施包括通过补贴营养食品来促进健康饮食,规范贸易政策以限制不健康食品的进口,以及整合城市规划以鼓励积极的生活方式。考虑到许多非洲国家的快速经济扩张、城市化、贸易自由化和粮食生产,这些战略应解决区域和性别差异的动态,同时与可持续发展目标3(良好健康和福祉)和可持续发展目标2(零饥饿)等全球发展目标保持一致,以有效缓解日益普遍的肥胖问题。
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来源期刊
Globalization and Health
Globalization and Health PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH-
CiteScore
18.40
自引率
1.90%
发文量
93
期刊介绍: "Globalization and Health" is a pioneering transdisciplinary journal dedicated to situating public health and well-being within the dynamic forces of global development. The journal is committed to publishing high-quality, original research that explores the impact of globalization processes on global public health. This includes examining how globalization influences health systems and the social, economic, commercial, and political determinants of health. The journal welcomes contributions from various disciplines, including policy, health systems, political economy, international relations, and community perspectives. While single-country studies are accepted, they must emphasize global/globalization mechanisms and their relevance to global-level policy discourse and decision-making.
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