All are invited to the CEDAR/MRC Epidemiology Seminar:

Movement behaviours and cognitive development in early childhood: Evidence, insights and interventions from South Africa.

Dr Catherine Draper, MRC/Wits Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand.

Watch a recording of this seminar.

Download the slides from Dr Draper’s seminar as a PDF.

Abstract

This presentation will cover research on movement behaviours in young children from South Africa – a country with a double burden of over- and under-nutrition. While a focus of this research has been the development of strategies to prevent early childhood obesity, a purely obesity focus is not appropriate in the South African context. There has therefore been a need to position this work within a broader early childhood developmental framework that takes into account other constraints and priorities within low-income South African settings. This has led to an increased focus on understanding how movement behaviours relate to cognitive development in early childhood, including how to develop intervention strategies that take this into account.

About Dr Draper

Catherine has a background in Psychology and Public Health. Her research interests include the development and evaluation of community-based physical activity interventions for young children. Catherine is particularly interested in the preschool age group, and her current research is movement behaviours and cognitive development in early childhood.

Catherine led the development of the South African 24-hour movement guidelines for the birth to 5 years, and was a member of the WHO Guideline Development Group for guidelines on physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep in children under 5. She is currently the President of the International Society of Physical Activity and Health, and is a Fellow of the International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity.

Twitter: @DrCathD

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