A review of implementation and evaluation of Pan American Health Organization's policies to prevent childhood obesity in Latin America

Mariana Molina; Laura N Anderson; Godefroy E Guindon; Jean-Eric Tarride

doi:10.1002/osp4.572

A review of implementation and evaluation of Pan American Health Organization's policies to prevent childhood obesity in Latin America

Obes Sci Pract. 2021 Oct 30;8(3):352-362. doi: 10.1002/osp4.572. eCollection 2022 Jun.

Authors

Mariana Molina¹, Laura N Anderson^{1

2

3}, Godefroy E Guindon^{1

2

4}, Jean-Eric Tarride^{1

2

5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact McMaster University Hamilton Ontario Canada.
² Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis McMaster University Hamilton Ontario Canada.
³ The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute Child Health Evaluative Sciences Toronto Ontario Canada.
⁴ Department of Economics McMaster University Hamilton Ontario Canada.
⁵ The Research Institute of St. Joe's Hamilton St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton Hamilton Ontario Canada.
⁶ McMaster Chair in Health Technology Management Hamilton Hamilton Ontario Canada.

Abstract

Rationale: To inform future policies, the study objectives were to determine to what extent the policies included in the 5-year Plan of Action for the Prevention of Obesity in Children and Adolescents-proposed by Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and signed by 19 Latin America countries in 2014-have been implemented and evaluated.

Methods: A scoping review of the Governmental websites for Latin American countries and a literature review was conducted to identify whether policies have been implemented and evaluated. Key information was abstracted.

Results: The review identified 115 PAHO policies/interventions implemented (43% implemented after signing the proposed plan in 2014). Nearly all (18/19) countries implemented food guidelines or school feeding programs, but fiscal and marketing policies were less commonly implemented (6/19). Through the review, 44 evaluations of PAHO policies were identified of which 23% were qualitative and 77% quantitative. The results of these evaluations were in general positive (e.g., decrease in sugar-sweetened beverages consumption following tax implementation) but no studies evaluated the outcome of reduced obesity.

Conclusions: PAHO recommended policies have been implemented to various degrees in Latin America since 2014 and more research is required to understand their impacts on child and adolescent obesity.

Keywords: Latin America; PAHO; childhood obesity.

Publication types

Review