Tropentag, September 16 - 18, 2026, Göttingen "Towards multi-functional agro-ecosystems promoting climate-resilient futures"

The potential of participatory approaches in school-based prevention of non-communicable diseases in Mexico

University of Bonn, Inst. Crop Sci. and Res. Conserv. (INRES) - Horticultural Sci., Germany

Abstract

The global rise of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) represents a major global health challenge of the 21^st century. To promote more sustainable healthy diets to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals, novel strategies are required. Given the important role adolescents play in advancing public health nutrition, schools are a key setting to implement health-related interventions for NCD prevention. Mexico as an upper-middle-income country is a prominent example of a country facing a high double burden of malnutrition, with persisting undernutrition and a growing number of diseases related to overnutrition. At the same time many innovative efforts have already been undertaken to improve food environments and health literacy among young people. However, interventions are often policies and programs, traditionally designed using a top-down approach, in contrast to a bottom-up approach. This paper examines how participatory and co-design approaches can inform the design of more meaningful and context-specific interventions for multifaceted health challenges. This represents a way to empower youth to take action on their own well-being and to increase awareness of the importance of healthy lifestyle choices from a young age. The literature review includes 23 papers from different countries around the world facing the topic of school-based participatory NCD prevention, by analysing possible design methods and assessing feasibility and effectiveness where available. Comparing the different approaches will serve to evaluate the transferability and research gaps of school-based participatory approaches in NCD prevention. These findings provide insights to inform similar design processes in future interventions in Mexico, following the objective of motivating healthy lifestyle and nutrition habits as well as adapting the surrounding food environments to facilitate and sustain these changes in future generations.

Keywords: Adolescents, bottom-up approach, children, co-design, Mexico, non-communicable diseases, participatory research, public health nutrition, school food environment, school-based

Contact Address: Anna Küllmer Matas, University of Bonn, Inst. Crop Sci. and Res. Conserv. (INRES) - Horticultural Sci., Auf dem Hügel 6, 53121 Bonn, Germany, e-mail: anna.kllmer.matasstud.ki.se