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Developmental origins of health and disease: Moving from biological concepts to interventions and policy
Author(s) -
Hanson Mark A.,
Gluckman Peter D.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
international journal of gynecology and obstetrics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.895
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1879-3479
pISSN - 0020-7292
DOI - 10.1016/s0020-7292(11)60003-9
Subject(s) - medicine , psychological intervention , urbanization , empowerment , economic growth , public health , disease , resource (disambiguation) , environmental health , development economics , gerontology , nursing , computer network , pathology , computer science , economics
Abstract The rising incidence of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), especially in young adults, presents great humanitarian and economic challenges to high‐resource and, increasingly, to low‐resource countries. No longer considered to be diseases of affluence, NCDs are exacerbated by urbanization and changes in social and lifestyle factors such as diet and family size. New research emphasizes the importance of early life factors in establishing the risk of NCDs through inadequate responses to later challenges, such as an obesogenic environment. A new focus on interventions to promote a good start to life in at‐risk populations necessitates revision of public health policy, with implications for the health, education, and empowerment of women and children in particular.