This article uses data from several publicly available databases to show that the distribution of intellectual property for frontier technologies, including those useful for sustainable development, is very highly skewed in favor of a handful of developed countries. The intellectual property rights (IPR) regime as it exists does not optimize the global flow of technology and know-how for the attainment of the sustainable development goals and is in need of updating. Some features of the Fourth Industrial Revolution imply that the current system of patents is even more in need of reform than before. COVID-19 vaccines and therapies and the vast inequality in access to these has highlighted the costs of inaction. We recommend several policy changes for the international IPR regime. Broadly, these fall into three categories: allowing greater flexibility for developing countries, reassessing the appropriateness of patents for technologies that may be considered public goods, and closing loopholes that allow for unreasonable intellectual property protections.

The combined burden of stunting and wasting in children under five years is a serious public health concern. The present study aimed to estimate the joint burden of stunting and wasting among children aged 6–59 months and explore its spatial variation across Nepal. The 2016 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey data was used to study acute and chronic childhood malnutrition. A Bayesian distributional bivariate probit geoadditive model was designed to study the linear association and geographical variation of stunting and wasting among 6–59 months, children. Child-related factors such as low birth weight, fever in the last 2 weeks preceding the survey and fourth or greater birth order were associated with a higher likelihood of stunting. The likelihood of a child being stunted was significantly less in the wealthiest households, having improved toilet facilities, and if mothers were overweight. Children from severely food insecure households were significantly more likely, and children from poorer households were significantly less likely to suffer both acute and chronic malnutrition simultaneously. Results from spatial effect showed that children from Lumbini and Karnali had a higher burden of stunting, and the likelihood that achild would have been wasted was significantly higher in Madhesh and Province 1. Immediate nutritional efforts are vital in low-income and severely food insecure households to lessen the risk of stunting and wasting in under children. Disproportionate geographic variations in stunting and wasting warrant sub-regional-specific nutrition intervention to achieve nutrition targets and reduce the burden of childhood malnutrition across the country.

This study aimed to compare fruits and vegetables (FV), and carbonated soft drink (CSD) consumption among adolescents from seventy-four countries, according to macroeconomic indicators. This is an ecological study, developed with countries evaluated through the Global School-based Student Health Survey (2003–2014) and the National School Health Survey (PeNSE-Brazil, 2015). The percentages of students in each country who consumed CSD and FV daily and their association with the Human Development Index (HDI) and the Gross National Income per capita (GNIpc) were assessed. Scatter plots were constructed for each marker, and a multilevel model was tested to consider the effects of region in the associations. The overall prevalence of daily CSD consumption was 54·1 %. CSD consumption was positively associated with HDI and GNIpc through multilevel models, and Central and South America showed a considerable higher consumption compared with other regions. Overall, FV daily consumption was 67·9 % and 74·6 %, respectively, and no associations with macroeconomic indicators were found. The study shows concerning rates of CSD consumption among adolescents, and a trend of increased consumption with the improvement of the country’s development and GNIpc. This points for the importance of public policies that regulate food and beverage industries to reduce CSD consumption and related co-morbidities among adolescents.

Assessing the impact that patterns of Na intake may have on gastric cancer will provide a more comprehensive estimation of Na reduction as a primary prevention approach. We aimed to estimate the proportion of gastric cancer cases that are attributable to Na intake above the recommendation by the WHO (≤2 g/d) throughout the world in 2010, as well as expected values for 2030. Population attributable fractions (PAF) were computed for 187 countries, using Na intakes in 1990 and 2010 and estimates of the association between Na intake and gastric cancer, assuming a time lag of 20 years. Median PAF ranged from 10·1% in low to 22·5 % in very high Human Development Index (HDI) countries in men (P<0·001) and from 7·2 to 16·6 %, respectively, among women (P<0·001). An increase in median PAF until 2030 is expected in most settings, except for countries classified as low HDI, in both sexes. High Na intakes account for a large proportion of gastric cancer cases, and proportions are expected to increase in almost all of the countries. Intensified efforts to diminish Na intake in virtually all populations are needed to further reduce gastric cancer burden.

The regional and temporal variation in patterns of fruit and vegetable intake contributes to differences in the impact on gastric cancer burden across regions and over the years. We aimed to estimate the proportion and absolute number of gastric cancer cases that could have been prevented in 2012 with an increase in fruit and vegetable intake up to the levels defined by the Global Burden of Disease as the theoretical minimum-risk exposure distribution (300 and 400 g/d, respectively), as well as the corresponding figures expected for 2025. Preventable fractions (PF) were computed for 161 countries, using data on fruit and vegetable availability in 1997 and 2010 and published estimates of the magnitude of the association between fruit and vegetable intake and gastric cancer, assuming a time lag of approximately 15 years. Countries classified as very high Human Development Index (HDI) presented median PF in 2012 much lower than low-HDI countries for both fruits (3·0 v. 10·2 %, P<0·001) and vegetables (6·0 v. 11·9 %, P<0·001). For vegetables only, PF significantly decreased until 2025 in most settings; however, this corresponded to a reduction in the absolute number of preventable gastric cancer cases in less than half of the countries. Increasing fruit and vegetable intake would allow preventing a relatively high proportion of gastric cancer cases, mostly in developing countries. Although declines in PF are predicted in the near future, changes in order to achieve healthier lifestyles may be insufficient to overcome the load of demographic variation to further reduce the gastric cancer burden.

Studies on the role of diet in the development of chronic diseases often rely on self-report surveys of dietary intake. Unfortunately, many validity studies have demonstrated that self-reported dietary intake is subject to systematic under-reporting, although the vast majority of such studies have been conducted in industrialised countries. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether or not systematic reporting error exists among the individuals of African ancestry (n 324) in five countries distributed across the Human Development Index (HDI) scale, a UN statistic devised to rank countries on non-income factors plus economic indicators. Using two 24 h dietary recalls to assess energy intake and the doubly labelled water method to assess total energy expenditure, we calculated the difference between these two values ((self-report − expenditure/expenditure) × 100) to identify under-reporting of habitual energy intake in selected communities in Ghana, South Africa, Seychelles, Jamaica and the USA. Under-reporting of habitual energy intake was observed in all the five countries. The South African cohort exhibited the highest mean under-reporting ( − 52·1 % of energy) compared with the cohorts of Ghana ( − 22·5 %), Jamaica ( − 17·9 %), Seychelles ( − 25·0 %) and the USA ( − 18·5 %). BMI was the most consistent predictor of under-reporting compared with other predictors. In conclusion, there is substantial under-reporting of dietary energy intake in populations across the whole range of the HDI, and this systematic reporting error increases according to the BMI of an individual.

Recent research on working-class living standards during the Industrial Revolution has shown that wages do not cover all welfare components — for instance, working conditions, leisure time or the «access rights» needed make one prosper (health, education and freedom). This is why studies have been published in which wages are compared with other living standard indicators. Following this line of research, our paper examines the evolution of welfare among Biscayan miners between 1876 and 1936 by contrasting real wages, Human Development Index and height. An additional contribution of the paper is that we relate the high morbi-mortality in the Biscayan working-class neighbourhoods with market failures derived from urbanisation, a connection not explicitly considered in the literature on living standards during the Industrial Revolution. These market failures were known by liberal politicians because the hygienists urged the intervention of the State to correct or, at least, ease them. However, the town councils in the Bilbao mining zone took more than 20 years to put into practice the measures proposed by the hygienists.