Between now and 2030, every country will experience population ageing—a trend that is both pronounced and historically unprecedented. Over the past six decades, countries of the world had experienced only a slight increase in the share of people aged 60 years and older, from 8% to 10%. But in the next four decades, this group is expected to rise to 22% of the total population—a jump from 800 million to 2 billion people. Evidence suggests that cohorts entering older age now are healthier than previous ones.

Malnutrition in children can manifest in different ways; malnourished children can be underweight or obese, or their height can be stunted. Global health experts used to measure progress toward meeting childhood malnutrition goals on the basis of improvements in weight. But now stunting is the top priority. That’s because children who lose weight from a few days of being sick or hungry can readily gain it back, while the stunting that results from chronic malnourishment during early development has permanent consequences.

The QUALMAT (Quality of Maternal and Prenatal Care: Bridging the Know-do Gap) project has introduced an electronic clinical decision support system (CDSS) for pre-natal and maternal care services in rural primary health facilities in Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Tanzania.