Changemaker project
The Changemaker project aims to implement and evaluate a sustainable health intervention on health, nutrition, and environmental outcomes for primary prevention of adolescent obesity and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa are experiencing the double burden of under- and overnutrition resulting in nutrient deficiencies as well as rising rates of overweight and obesity. In LMICs, unhealthy diets are responsible for nearly half of all NCD related deaths. The project involves a collaborative approach with adolescents in three cities in Burkina Faso, Kenya, and Tanzania to address these rising issues. There are four evidence-informed? components that will be implemented: urban farming in schools and communities, health teaching? modules in schools, health counseling by?, and a mass media campaign on healthy behaviours. Each of these components will be tailored to the context and suitable implementation strategies will be identified using a co-design process.
Objectives
- Establish a multi-actor platform for supporting a ‘multiple needs’ framework towards a healthy thriving of adolescents.
- Co-design with adolescent changemakers and other key stakeholders, a multi-component, sustainable intervention in each setting.
- Generate contextualized NCD-tailored tools and processes for intervention implementation in each setting.
- Contextualize and implement Changemaker to address a range of risks of NCDs in each setting.
- Determine the effects of the multi-component intervention focusing on health, nutrition, and environmental outcomes.
- Define the uptake, causal mechanisms, and enabling factors of Changemaker.
- Drive widespread uptake of project findings through policy efforts and youth advocacy across multiple sectors and settings.
Partners
The Changemaker consortium has 13 partners across the globe including Karolinska Institute (KI), Sweden, University of Bonn (UBO), Germany, Aga Khan University (AKU), Kenya, Tampere University (TAU), Finland, Harvard Global Research and Support Services Inc. (Harvard), United States, Technical University of Kenya (TUK), Kenya, Kenya Medical Research Institute Kisumu (KEMRI), Kenya, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Fisheries (DALF), Kenya, Institute Supérieure des Sciences de la Population, University of Ouagadougou (ISSP), Burkina Faso, Centre de Recherche en Santé de Nouna a spart of the National Institutes of Health Burkina Faso (CRSN), Burkina Faso, Africa Academy for Public Health (AAPH), Tanzania, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS), Tanzania and Food Security for Peace and Nutrition (FSPN), Kenya.
Funding and duration:
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Actions under grant no. 101137359. It will take place between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2027.