Eating Behaviors and Body Mass Index Changes in Underprivileged Nairobi Youth: A Childhood Obesity Prevention Initiative

Childhood obesity is a significant public health issue in underprivileged communities of Nairobi, Kenya. Limited resources and poor access to healthy food options contribute to high rates of childhood obesity. Participants were recruited from a Nairobi slum through convenience sampling. A pre-post design was employed, with baseline and follow-up BMI measurements taken at three months post-intervention initiation. Participants exhibited significant reductions in BMI by an average of 0.5 units (95% CI: -0.8 to -0.2) after the intervention period. The eating behaviors intervention programme showed promise in reducing BMI among underprivileged youth, though further research is needed for broader applicability and sustainability. Future studies should investigate long-term effects and explore cost-effective implementation strategies. Treatment effect was estimated with $\text{logit}(p_i)=\beta_0+\beta^\top X_i$, and uncertainty reported using confidence-interval based inference.