Systems Science: A Revolution in Public Health Policy Research

Mabry, Patricia L.; Marcus, Stuart G.; Clark, Pamela I.; Leischow, Scott J.; Méndez, David

doi:10.2105/ajph.2010.198176

Cited by 103 publications

(81 citation statements)

References 10 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Their application to food and nutrition security can provide fresh insights into the interconnectedness and interdependencies within as well as across sectors, scale, space, time, and jurisdiction, potentially identifying promising new strategies for single and/or system-level intervention. Of particular interest for a systems approach to food and nutrition security are system dynamics (SD) and agent-based modeling (ABM) (47)(48)(49)(50)(51)(52)(53)(54)(55).…”

Section: Complexity Of Food and Nutrition Securitymentioning

confidence: 99%

A systems science perspective and transdisciplinary models for food and nutrition security

Hammond

Dubé

2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

179

143

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We argue that food and nutrition security is driven by complex underlying systems and that both research and policy in this area would benefit from a systems approach. We present a framework for such an approach, examine key underlying systems, and identify transdisciplinary modeling tools that may prove especially useful.complexity | agri-food | health | disease | environment N utrition is a fundamental human need, affecting health and well-being throughout the lifespan in myriad ways. A central concept in the study of human nutrition is food and nutrition security, which is typically defined as "when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life" (1). The absence of food and nutrition security can have significant consequences for individuals and for society, including malnutrition, obesity, disease, and poverty.Despite rapid growth in agricultural production over the past four decades, significant malnutrition persists. Average per-capita food consumption was below the recommended 2,200 kcal/d in 33 countries in 2003. Globally, more than 850 million people lack adequate access to food on a regular basis, with a third of these in East and Southeast Asia, another third in South Asia, and a quarter in sub-Saharan Africa. In sub-Saharan Africa, one of the most food-insecure regions, the number of hungry people has gone up by 20% since 1990; more than a third of the population is undernourished in such countries as Kenya and Tanzania. There are 126 million underweight children in the world and over 2 billion people who suffer from micronutrient deficiency (2-4).At the same time, there has been an alarming rise in obesity in the developed world (5, 6) and, increasingly, in the developing world as well (7-9). The obesity rate in the United States doubled between 1970 and 2000, to almost 30% (5); worldwide, nearly 1.5 billion people are now overweight or obese (9). Like malnutrition, obesity has significant implications for public health (10, 11) and health care costs (12). Obesity can coexist in the same populations as malnutrition, and it may be linked to the same forces that drive reductions in malnutrition (13, 14). Complexity of Food and Nutrition SecurityBoth phenomena, malnutrition and obesity, are manifestations of widespread food and nutrition insecurity. The determinants of this insecurity are complex. A primary driver of food security or insecurity is the agricultural food system. The agrifood system spans a series of interrelated processes, including production of raw food materials through farming and raising of livestock, processing and packaging for consumption, distribution, and utilization by consumers (15). These processes are affected by a range of influences, including diffusion of agricultural technology (16, 17), functioning of capital markets, infrastructure at both local and regional/global levels, organization of firms and supply chains, sociopolitical factors ...

show abstract

Section: Complexity Of Food and Nutrition Securitymentioning

confidence: 99%

A systems science perspective and transdisciplinary models for food and nutrition security

Hammond

Dubé

2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

179

143

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Risk perceptions and subjective appraisals of the situation greatly influence whether and when a recommended protective action is likely to be adopted [24][25][26][27]. Health and risk communications during an outbreak must address those perceptions, life circumstances, and other forces that may be incompatible with suggested behavioral change [13,14,18,19,28]. This requires an understanding of the psychology of risk perceptions and precaution adoption, and the influence of social, economic, and cultural contexts within which individual-level responses are embedded.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Contemporary Perspectives on Risk Perceptions, Health-Protective Behaviors, and Control of Emerging Infectious Diseases

Vaughan

2011

Int.J. Behav. Med.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…76,77 It has been suggested that the effective integration of social and behavioral science perspectives into systems thinking approaches would be a major methodological challenge in analyzing the multiplicity of factors that shape urban health outcomes in socially complex and dynamic urban environments. 44 To this end, codesigning the research methodology is essential within a transdisciplinary mode of knowledge production, 65 rather than considering social and behavioral factors as a set of variables in system dynamics models.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Complexity and Dynamism from an Urban Health Perspective: a Rationale for a System Dynamics Approach

Tozan

Ompad

2015

J Urban Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In a variety of urban health frameworks, cities are conceptualized as complex and dynamic yet commonly used epidemiological methods have failed to address this complexity and dynamism head on due to their narrow problem definitions and linear analytical representations. Scholars from a variety of disciplines have also long conceptualized cities as systems, but few have modeled urban health issues as problems within a system. Systems thinking in general and system dynamics in particular are relatively new approaches in public health, but ones that hold immense promise as methodologies to model and analyze the complexity underlying urban processes to effectively inform policy actions in dynamic environments. This conceptual essay reviews the utility of applying the concepts, principles, and methods of systems thinking to the study of complex urban health phenomena as a complementary approach to standard epidemiological methods using specific examples and provides recommendations on how to better incorporate systems thinking methods in urban health research and practice.

show abstract

Systems Science: A Revolution in Public Health Policy Research

Cited by 103 publications

References 10 publications

A systems science perspective and transdisciplinary models for food and nutrition security

A systems science perspective and transdisciplinary models for food and nutrition security

Contemporary Perspectives on Risk Perceptions, Health-Protective Behaviors, and Control of Emerging Infectious Diseases

Complexity and Dynamism from an Urban Health Perspective: a Rationale for a System Dynamics Approach

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About