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Describes the transformation of agrifood systems in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Context of traditional retail and wholesale system; Determinants of and patterns in the diffusion of supermarkets in the regions; Consequences of the evolution of procurement systems for agrifood business.

Remittances have become one of the most important sources of household income in developing countries, empowering recipients to be more politically independent. Using a dynamic estimator and panel data for 84 developing countries over the 1982–2011 period, this paper investigates the effect that remittances have on political institutions. Controlling for country and time fixed effects and using an exogenous source of variation to instrument remittances, the baseline results show that remittances start having a positive effect on democratic institutions when remittances reach 22% of GDP. This evidence suggests that remittances can influence the relationship between recipients and political elites, providing incentives for recipient households to hold their political representatives more accountable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of international and collaborative publication trends in prominent behavior‐analytic journals has been a topic of interest for behavioral researchers. This paper focuses on publication trends from 1997 through 2020 in three prominent journals: Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (JEAB), Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA), and Perspectives on Behavior Science (PBS). The variable of interest was the percentage of articles published per geographical category—Australasia/East Asia, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, North America, and Africa. The results showed that 79, 96, and 87% of the published articles in JEAB, JABA, and PBS, respectively, were conducted by researchers with a North American affiliation. Furthermore, 12, 4, and 4% of the articles in JEAB, JABA, and PBS, respectively, were coauthored by at least two researchers from different geographical categories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past two decades, China has become a strategic economic partner for both Latin American and African nations. China's economic global relevance is translating via its "Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)" into massive amounts of foreign trade, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), loans, and aid for both regions. Recently, China has added a national security and defense dimension to its BRI relationship with both regions. China's global strategic economic, geopolitical, and global defense goals are being expressed in its global "Road and Belt" power initiatives and strategies. This paper explores an additional dimension of China's BRI initiative: its role in both regions' defense industries and national security environments. China is increasingly using its trade and investment leverage with both regions to unbalance their defense choices and strategic defense relationships. China's increasing interactions with African and Latin American countries poses a number of geopolitical implications for both the United States and Western European countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theoretically significant research on transnational migrations has usually been based on in-depth qualitative studies with detailed case study data linked to specific contexts. The concept of transnationalism has been used to capture and theorise enduring and complex interchanges of people, things and ideas between places, regions and/or countries, that are separated by borders, and usually by large physical distances. Transnationalism has also been linked to accounts of intense forms of international migration under globalisation, often in contexts of unequal power relations. Rather few studies have tried to grasp the phenomenon in larger samples, examining its importance and characteristics over time in different migratory contexts. While sharing theoretical and epistemological understandings from the transnational research field, this paper explores the phenomenon by analysing a comprehensive set of quantitative data on long-distance frequent movers between Sweden and Asia, Latin America and Africa. By looking at the most mobile of all migrants in this South-North context, the paper explores the characteristics and scope of transnational migrations. The analyses show that transnational circulators, defined here as individuals who have migrated three times or more between Sweden and these regions, constitute a very small proportion of all South-North migrants over a 35-year period. They are more likely than other groups to be highly educated, male, low-income earners and Swedish citizens. These results contrast with other studies where transnational mobility of the highly skilled is often associated with successful career migration and high income groups. The conclusion of this paper is that, despite the high qualification level of circulators, long-distance circulation between Sweden and the global South is associated with negative income and labour market situations. The paper also questions the relevance of the concept of transnationalism itself in this specific context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acute kidney injury ( AKI) is imposing a severe burden of morbidity and mortality both in developed and developing countries. Also AKI has a major economic impact on healthcare expenditure. This is particularly so in poor countries where AKI especially impacts young productive people, imposing severe penury upon their families. The mission is to lessen the high burden in terms of death consequent to this disorder in low-resource regions, which in many cases is preventable and treatable with simple measures. The International Society of Nephrology has launched a long-term program, called '0 by 25', which advocates that zero people should die of untreated AKI in the poorest part of Africa, Asia, and Latin America by 2025. This paper illustrates how the project will be developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment of the nutritional quality of some selected ethnic foods consumed in Italy was performed within the framework of the European Food Information Resource (EuroFIR) Network as part of the ethnic foods Work Package. A definition of ethnic and modified ethnic foods, as well as guidelines on the characterisation of immigrant populations and a detailed stepwise analysis of the ethnic food market, have been developed within the EuroFIR project. These were the basis for selecting ethnic foods in Italy for nutritional analysis. Four main immigrant groups (Asian, Latin American, African and Eastern European) were identified as commonly selected from those residing in Italy, and 25 dishes or composite foods consumed by these ethnic groups were selected. Based on consumption rates and market share of these foods in Italy, five ethnic food types ( cantonese rice, nachos, falafel, kebab, sarmale) were chosen and collected for analysis. Nutritional evaluation of the selected foods was performed by analysing the following components: water, nitrogen, fat, total sugars, starch, total ash and dietary fibre, fatty acid composition, cholesterol, minerals (Na, Ca, Fe, P, Mg, K, Cu, S, Zn and Cl), and vitamins (vitamins A, E, B1, B2, B6, C, biotin, niacin and β-carotene). Procedures for collection of the chosen foods, along with the results of the analysis, are described in the present paper. These new data will be added to the Italian Food Composition Tables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on the article "Alcohol and public health in Africa: Can we prevent alcohol-related harm from increasing?" by C. Ferreira-Borges and others on the threats to public health that can result in an increase in alcoholic beverage consumption and compares it to a similar situation in Latin America. He talks about Latin America's youthful population and comments that the paper's conclusion on the need for community and governmental involvement to reinforce health services is correct.

There are many parallels between the development of Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa. Recent literature on this is reviewed. It is argued in the paper that the key to long-term development is the shift from inward (import substitution) to outward (export-oriented) growth. This shift involves both tariff reduction and significant investment in infrastructure and human capital accumulation. Given that much of Latin America (historically) and Sub-Saharan Africa (currently) has depended or depends on trade taxes for revenue, an outward orientation poses a significant fiscal problem, which makes it extremely difficult to switch to an export-oriented growth path. East Asian experience points to the importance of broad-based agricultural growth in making the fiscal transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article introduces a special section of the journal related to geographic development issues in Asia, Latin America, and Africa.

This paper explores the effects of privatization, competition, and regulation on telecommunications performance in 30 African and Latin American countries from 1984 through 1997. Fixed-effects regressions reveal that competitionomeasured by mobile operators not owned by the incumbentois correlated with increases in the per capita number of mainlines, payphones, and connection capacity, and with decreases in the price of local calls. Privatization combined with an independent regulator is positively correlated with telecom performance measures. Privatization alone, however, is associated with few benefits, and is negatively correlated with connection capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on fertility preferences and reproductive outcomes in the developing world. Topics include in the 1950s, fertility in Africa, Asia, and Latin America has exceeded five births per woman and in some countries was as high as seven births per woman, and contraceptive use was limited to small groups of elites.

The article discusses the seed storing by the scatter‐hoarding rodents below the ground or under litter caches to secure food supply, including forest regeneration and contribution of scatter‐hoarding rodents in forest regeneration in the Neotropics. It also discusses the role of seed dispersion by the scatter‐hoarding rodents in Africa is yet to understand.

Around the world, many women continue to experience low levels of autonomy. Recent literature has reported that the health consequences of low maternal autonomy extend beyond mothers and translate into health consequences for their children, and may be an important causal factor in child malnutrition. This review summarises the current knowledge of the relationship between maternal autonomy and children's nutritional status (defined as any measure that reflects the nutritional state of the body, such as birthweight or anthropometric scores) and child‐feeding practices. The review also includes both discussion of the limitations found in the literature and directions for future research. A systematic review of the literature was conducted. Results of the studies included in the review strongly suggest that raising maternal autonomy is an important goal for improving children's nutritional status, yet gaps in the current knowledge exist, further confounded by issues with how autonomy is measured and limitations of cross‐cultural comparability. A thorough understanding of the consequences of restricting women's autonomy will inform programmes and policy worldwide, and speed progress towards both empowering women and alleviating the global burden of child malnutrition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existing literature on spatial interdependence in FDI flows has primarily focused on developed economies as hosts, with these hosts economically tied together via good infrastructure and historically strong/significant trade flows. In contrast, we explicitly test for the presence of spatial interdependence in developing hosts (Africa, Latin American and the Caribbean) where such ties are not as strong. For US outbound FDI between 1995 and 2007, our empirical results confirm third-country effects do matter even when controlling for spatial and time-period fixed effects. Based on the signs of the market potential and spatial lag coefficients, we find US FDI strategies into these regions as consistent with complex vertical specialisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peng Zhang
(Corresponding author) As a major source of food, cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is an important root crop in the tropics and subtropics of Africa and Latin America, and serves as raw material for the production of starches and bioethanol in tropical Asia. Cassava improvement through genetic engineering not only overcomes the high heterozygosity and serious trait separation that occurs in its traditional breeding, but also quickly achieves improved target traits. Since the first report on genetic transformation in cassava in 1996, the technology has gradually matured over almost 15 years of development and has overcome cassava genotype constraints, changing from mode cultivars to farmer‐preferred ones. Significant progress has been made in terms of an increased resistance to pests and diseases, biofortification, and improved starch quality, building on the fundamental knowledge and technologies related to planting, nutrition, and the processing of this important food crop that has often been neglected. Therefore, cassava has great potential in food security and bioenergy development worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim Our goals are: (1) to examine the relative degree of phylogenetic overdispersion or clustering of species in communities relative to the entire species pool, (2) to test for across-continent differences in community phylogenetic structure, and (3) to examine the relationship between species richness and community phylogenetic structure. Location Africa, Madagascar, Asia, and the Neotropics. Methods We collected species composition and phylogenetic data for over 100 primate communities. For each community, we calculated two measures of phylogenetic structure: (1) the net relatedness index (NRI), which provides a measure of the mean pairwise phylogenetic distance among all species in the community; and (2) the nearest taxon index (NTI), which measures the relative phylogenetic distance among the closest related species in a community. Both measures are relative to the phylogeny of the species in the entire species pool. Thephylocom package uses a randomization procedure to test whether the NRI and NTI values are higher or lower than expected by chance alone. In addition, we used a Kruskal–Wallis test to examine differences in NRI and NTI across continents, and linear regressions to examine the relationship between species richness and NRI/NTI. Results We found that the majority of individual primate communities in Africa, Asia and the Neotropics consist of member species that are neither more nor less closely related than expected by chance alone. Yet 37% of Malagasy communities contain species that are more distantly related to each other compared with random species assemblages. Also, we found that the average degree of relatedness among species in communities differed significantly across continents, with African and Malagasy communities consisting of more distantly related taxa compared with communities in Asia and the Neotropics. Finally, we found a significant negative relationship between species richness and phylogenetic distance among species in African, Asian and Malagasy communities. The average relatedness among species in communities decreased as community size increased. Main conclusions The majority of individual primate communities exhibit a phylogenetic structure no different from random. Yet there are across-continent differences in the phylogenetic structure of primate communities that probably result from the unique ecological and evolutionary characteristics exhibited by the endemic species found on each continent. In particular, the recent extinctions of numerous primates on Madagascar are likely responsible for the low levels of evolutionary relatedness among species in Malagasy communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: We studied exposure to solid fuel and second-hand tobacco smoke among pregnant women in south Asia, Africa and Latin America.Design: Prospective cross-sectional survey.Setting: Antenatal clinics in Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Guatemala, Uruguay, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, India and Pakistan.Sample: A total of 7,961 pregnant women in ten sites in nine countries were interviewed between October 2004 and September 2005.Methods: A standardized questionnaire on exposure to indoor air pollution (IAP) and second-hand smoke was administered to pregnant women during antenatal care.Main Outcome Measures: Exposure to IAP and second-hand tobacco smoke.Results: South Asian pregnant women commonly reported use of wood (49.1-89.7%), crop residue and animal dung as cooking and heating fuel. African pregnant women reported higher use of charcoal (85.4-93.5%). Latin American pregnant women had greater use of petroleum gas. Among south Asian women, solid fuel use and cooking on an open flame inside the home were common. There was a significant association between solid fuel use and allowing smoking within the home at the Asian sites and in Zambia (p < 0.05).Conclusions: Pregnant women from low/middle income countries were commonly exposed to IAP secondary to use of solid fuels. Among these populations, exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke was also common. This combination of exposures likely increases the risk of poor pregnancy outcomes among the most vulnerable women. Our study highlights the importance of further research on the combined impact of IAP and second-hand tobacco smoke exposures on adverse maternal and perinatal outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tropical root and tuber crops [cassava, sweet potato, yams, colocasia (taro), etc] are important staples for food security for about a fifth of the world population. Bulk of cassava in Africa and Latin America are processed into fermented foods and food additives such as organic (acetic, citric and lactic) acids, mono-sodium glutamate, etc. The fermented foods from cassava are gari, fufu, lafun, chickwanghe, agbelima, attieke and kivunde in Africa, tape in Asia and ‘ cheese’ bread, and ‘ coated peanut’ in Latin America. Lactic acid bacteria and yeasts are the major group of micro-organisms associated with cassava fermentation. Similarly, sweet potatoes can be fermented into soy sauce, vinegar, lacto-juices, lacto-pickles and sochu (an alcoholic drink produced in Japan), and yams into fermented flour. Most of these fermented food products are functional foods rich in phytochemicals, dietary fibres, anti-oxidant compounds (β-carotene, anthocyanin, etc) and probiotic components (lactic acid bacteria and yeasts). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural development lies at the heart of poverty reduction and increased food security of most developing nations. Sub-Saharan Africa (hereafter referred to as Africa) is, however, the only region in the world where per capita agricultural productivity has remained stagnant over the past 40 years. In Asia and Latin America, the use of tailored techniques and technologies has transformed agricultural practice and its productivity, leading to what has been called the “green revolution.” The dissemination of uniquely African green revolution technologies has not occurred on the continent. This chapter will argue that the same results in increased productivity and food security can be achieved in Africa if the appropriate investments are made in key interventions: soil fertility improvement, improved seeds, water management, market access, extension services, access to credit, and improvements in weather forecasting. Where these have happened, even partially, the outcome has been remarkable. However, bringing them to scale in ways that sustainably increase agricultural productivity and alleviate poverty requires increased investments and innovative institutional arrangements. Fortunately, several research and development projects on the continent, including the Millennium Villages Project, are providing valuable insights. Finally, this chapter outlines the key remaining challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new book, Promised Land: Competing Visions of Agrarian Reform , edited by Peter Rosset, Raj Patel and Michael Courville is considered. This book, via both general analytical treatment and a series of case studies set in Latin America, Asia and Africa, offers a powerful critique of the World Bank's market-led agrarian reform (MLAR) and provides an alternative model of agrarian reform, the ‘food sovereignty movement’, that has been articulated by La Via Campesina. Food sovereignty requires that priority be allocated to the domestic production of food and that a right to land be given to small farmers and their families. It is a vision of agrarian reform, with an emphasis on smallholder farming and the transformative power of rural social movements, that has truly emerged ‘from below’. The critique of MLAR is compelling. It is argued in this essay, however, that two crucial questions are abstracted from. The first is that of the vastly differing sets of social relations that exist (compare, say, socialist Cuba and capitalist Brazil) and their implications. It is not clear that food sovereignty can, in effect, offer a coherent political economy of an alternative global agrarianism. The second relates to the implicit assumption, found throughout the book, that the peasantry is a homogeneous, undifferentiated social group. This is manifestly not so, and what the existence of socially differentiated peasantries implies requires careful examination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional wisdom hails Latin American experience with conditional cash transfers (CCTs) as successful, but, to the authors' knowledge, there have been no rigorous analyses of the respective costs and benefits of conditional versus unconditional transfers. The impact of conditionality itself is therefore not known. This article argues that the important contextual differences between Africa and Latin America, in quality and quantity of service provision, capacity to implement conditionality, socio-cultural, ethnic and political contexts, and, potentially, the benefit:cost ratio of conditionality, may well make the introduction of CCTs in Africa inappropriate. It sets out a number of questions and points to a new case in Chipata, Zambia, which will be rigorously monitored from the outset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the recent international effort to expand access to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in developing countries, its coverage still varies significantly from country to country and is strongly correlated with per capita income. However, regional and political variables are also important. Cross-country regressions indicate that, controlling for political and economic characteristics and the scale of the HIV epidemic, Latin American and African countries have better coverage than predicted. Whereas the level of HIV prevalence was a significantly (negative) factor when accounting for HAART coverage in June 2004, this effect had disappeared by December 2004. The improvement appears to have benefited democratic countries in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews field experiences with provision of family planning services in prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programs in ten countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Family planning is a standard component of most antenatal care and maternal-child health programs within which PMTCT programs are offered. Yet PMTCT sites often miss opportunities to provide HIV-positive clients with family planning counseling. Demand for family planning among HIV-positive women varies depending on the extent of communities' openness about HIV/AIDS, fertility norms, and knowledge of PMTCT programs. In Kenya and Zambia, no differences were observed in use of contraceptives between HIV-positive and HIV-negative women in the study communities, but HIV-positive women have more affirmative attitudes about condoms and use them significantly more frequently than do their HIV-negative counterparts. In the Dominican Republic, India, and Thailand, where HIV prevalence is low and sterilization rates are high, HIV-positive women are offered sterilization, which most women accept. This article draws out the policy implications of these findings and recommends that policies be based on respect for women's right to informed reproductive choice in the context of HIV/AIDS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The goals of any cervical cancer prevention program should be threefold: to achieve high coverage of the population at risk, to screen women with an accurate test as part of high-quality services, and to ensure that women with positive test results are properly managed. This article focuses on the experiences of the Alliance for Cervical Cancer Prevention (ACCP) in delivery of screening and treatment services as part of cervical cancer prevention projects in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Research and experience show that cervical cancer can be prevented when strategies and services are well planned and well managed and when attention is paid to program monitoring and evaluation. Coordination of program components, reduction of the number of visits, improvement of service quality, and flexibility in how services are delivered are all essential features of an effective service. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Until recently, Histoplasma capsulatum was believed to harbour three varieties, var. capsulatum (chiefly a New World human pathogen), var. duboisii (an African human pathogen) and var. farciminosum (an Old World horse pathogen), which varied in clinical manifestations and geographical distribution. We analysed the phylogenetic relationships of 137 individuals representing the three varieties from six continents using DNA sequence variation in four independent protein-coding genes. At least eight clades were idengified: (i) North American class 1 clade; (ii) North American class 2 clade; (iii) Latin American group A clade; (iv) Latin American group B clade; (v) Australian clade; (vi) Netherlands (Indonesian?) clade; (vii) Eurasian clade and (viii) African clade. Seven of eight clades represented genetically isolated groups that may be recognized as phylogenetic species. The sole exception was the Eurasian clade which originated from within the Latin American group A clade. The phylogenetic relationships among the clades made a star phylogeny. Histoplasma capsulatum var. capsulatum individuals were found in all eight clades. The African clade included all of the H. capsulatum var. duboisii individuals as well as individuals of the other two varieties. The 13 individuals of var. farciminosum were distributed among three phylogenetic species. These findings suggest that the three varieties of Histoplasma are phylogenetically meaningless. Instead we have to recognize the existence of genetically distinct geographical populations or phylogenetic species. Combining DNA substitution rates of protein-coding genes with the phylogeny suggests that the radiation of Histoplasma started between 3 and 13 million years ago in Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the contribution of rural industry to the development process, available institutional facilities face various constraints which limit their effectiveness in meeting the needs of rural industry. In most cases, rural industry institutions are non-existent. This study outlines a model of enquiry to investigate the structure and performance of rural industry institutions. The modules identified for designing survey instruments were institutional structure, leadership role, interface of institutional activities and service delivery systems. A total of eighteen (out of the sample of forty) institutions in Africa, Asia and Latin America completed and returned questionnaires. On the basis of the results of the survey, major policy implications have been highlighted to enhance the effectiveness of rural industry institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article focuses on the Policy Studies Organization of U.S. The Policy Studies Organization is embarking on an expanded program of professional developments directed toward applying policy studies to the problems of developing nations. It says that there is an especially strong need for putting resources into educational development. The introduction of new technologies are not so meaningful if the population does not have a sufficient educational level to be able to make good use of those technologies. The interactions in Africa and Latin America resulted in an emphasis on the need for various aspects of technological development. The experiences in China resulted in an emphasis on the need for more appropriate political institutions.

Cet article adopte une perspective mondiale sur la base des travaux d'Amin, Frank et Wallerstein pour comparer les aspects de la lutte des classes urbaines en Afrique et en Afrique Latine. Le développement de pays spécifiques (Mexique et Nigéria) est décrit, avec une discussion plus détaillée des villes de Monterrey et de Kano. L'analyse est faite sur une base historique et cherche à établir que la nature de la lutte des classes urbaines s'explique dans une grande mesure par la façon dont une région est incorporée à l'économie mondiale. Les changements de relations entre les états semi-périphériques et une capitale multinationale située dans un état-noyau peuvent s'bpérer avec succés de point de vue de ce dernier, mais tis entrainent une intensification de la lutte des dasses qui gomme les avantages gagnés par les classes locales alliées ainsi à la capitale. Dieser Artikel greift eine sich auf die Werke von Amin, Frank und Wallerstein stützende Weltsystemperspektive auf, um einige Aspekte des stdtischen Klassenkornflikts in Afrika und Lateinamerika zu vergleichen. Die Länder, deren Entwicklung beschrieben wird, sind Mexiko und Nigeria, wobei sich die Diskussion besonders mit den Städten Monterrey und Kano beschäftigt. Die Analyse stützt sich aufhistorische Grundlagen und versucht zu beweisen, dass das Wesen des städtischen Klassenkonflikts weitgehend durch die Art der Einverleibung einer Region in das Weltwirtschaftssystem erklärt wird. Änderungen in den Beziehungen zwischen Halb-Randstaaten und internationalem Kapital, das sich in zentralen Staaten befindet, mag nach Ansicht der letzteren erfolgreich sind, aber kann zu einer Intensivierung der Klassenkämpfe führen, welche die Vorteile der ortsansssigen, mit solchem Kapital verbundenen Schichten negieren. Este artculo adopta una perspective mundial basada en las obras de Amn, Frank y Wallerstein para comparar aspectos del conflicto de clases urbanas en Africa y Ladnoamérica. Los países específicos cuyos desarrollos se describen son México y Nigeria, con una discusin detallada de las ciudades de Monterrey y Kano. El análisis está basado en la historia, tratando de establecer que la naturaleza del conflícto de clases urbano se puede explicar sustancialmente por la forma como una región se ha incorporado al sistema econmico mundial. Cambios en las relaciones entre estados en la semiperiferia y la capital multinaconal, ubicada en estados céntricos, pueden tener éxito desde el punto de vista de ésta, pero conducen a una intensificación de la lucha de clases que cancela las ventajas obtenidas por las clases locales que están aliadas con semejante capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces a series of articles about poverty, development and budget systems.

The purpose of this paper is to document the prevalence of the phenomenon of the coexistence of a stunted child and an overweight mother (SCOWT) in the same household in low- and middle-income countries. We also explore whether this phenomenon is associated with a country's level of economic development and urbanization and highlight policy directions for public nutrition. Data from 36 Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) were used (23 in Africa, 8 in Latin America, and 5 in Asia). Stunting was defined as height-for-age < -2 SD of the reference population and maternal overweight as a body mass index (BMI) of > 25 kg m(-2). World Bank and United Nations figures were used for gross national product per capita (an indicator of economic development) and for level of urbanization respectively. Descriptive statistics were derived, and multivariate linear regression analysis was used to model the association between economic development, urbanization and the prevalence of SCOWT. The prevalence of SCOWT is generally below 10%, except in four countries, of which three are in Latin America. Among our sample of countries, SCOWT is generally more prevalent in Latin America than in Africa, and is near or below 5% in all five countries of Asia. Contrary to our expectations, SCOWT is not necessarily more prevalent in urban than rural areas. We also find that when economic development is controlled for, SCOWT is associated with urbanization only in Latin America. In Africa and Asia, SCOWT is associated with economic development, but not urbanization. The concrete recognition of the SCOWT phenomenon is an important step to delineating more effective and integrated strategies to address problems of over- and undernutrition and dietary quality within countries, regions and households. This gives special importance to designing programmes and policies that will address the food and nutrition needs of each individual, rather than assuming that those needs are addressed by targeting programmes or policies to the household as a whole.