September 2023

The adverse health impacts of unhealthy diets are widespread and well known. Diet-related non-communicable diseases, including obesity, cardiovascular disease and cancer, exert a very large burden of ill-health among adults in high-income countries, and populations of low- and middle-income countries are increasingly being affected. Marketing of unhealthy and ultra-processed foods is likely to contribute substantially to this growing burden of ill-health, and damaging influences on children’s diets - with the potential for long-term adverse effects on health - are a particular concern. In a Perspective, Francesca Dillman Carpentier and co-authors discuss a newly released WHO guideline on policies aiming to protect children from the harmful impact of food marketing.

Image Credit: Iwona Castiello d'Antonio

Perspectives

Modern slavery in the United Kingdom: The illegal migration act risks undermining efforts to combat exploitation

Sian Oram

PLOS Medicine: published September 5, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004279

Comprehensive mandatory policies are needed to fully protect all children from unhealthy food marketing

Francesca R. Dillman Carpentier, Fernanda Mediano Stoltze, Barry M. Popkin

PLOS Medicine: published September 25, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004291

Policy Forum

Recommendations on data sharing in HIV drug resistance research

Seth C. Inzaule, Mark J. Siedner, Susan J. Little, Santiago Avila-Rios, Alisen Ayitewala, Ronald J. Bosch, Vincent Calvez, Francesca Ceccherini-Silberstein, Charlotte Charpentier, Diane Descamps, Susan H. Eshleman, Joseph Fokam, Lisa M. Frenkel, Ravindra K. Gupta, John P.A. Ioannidis, Pontiano Kaleebu, Rami Kantor, Seble G. Kassaye, Sergei L. Kosakovsky Pond, Vinie Kouamou, Roger D. Kouyos, Daniel R. Kuritzkes, Richard Lessells, Anne-Genevieve Marcelin, Lawrence Mbuagbaw, Brian Minalga, Nicaise Ndembi, Richard A. Neher, Roger Paredes, Deenan Pillay, Elliot G. Raizes, Soo-Yon Rhee, Douglas D. Richman, Kiat Ruxrungtham, Pardis C. Sabeti, Jonathan M. Schapiro, Sunee Sirivichayakul, Kim Steegen, Wataru Sugiura, Gert U. van Zyl, Anne-Mieke Vandamme, Annemarie M.J. Wensing, Joel O. Wertheim, Huldrych F. Gunthard, Michael R. Jordan, Robert W. Shafer

PLOS Medicine: published September 22, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004293

Research Articles

Cost-effectiveness analysis of interventions to improve diagnosis and preventive therapy for paediatric tuberculosis in 9 sub-Saharan African countries: A modelling study

Nyashadzaishe Mafirakureva, Sushant Mukherjee, Mikhael de Souza, Cassandra Kelly-Cirino, Mario J. P. Songane, Jennifer Cohn, Jean-François Lemaire, Martina Casenghi, Peter J. Dodd

PLOS Medicine: published September 6, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004285

Tuberculosis prevalence after 4 years of population-wide systematic TB symptom screening and universal testing and treatment for HIV in the HPTN 071 (PopART) community-randomised trial in Zambia and South Africa: A cross-sectional survey (TREATS)

Eveline Klinkenberg, Sian Floyd, Kwame Shanaube, Linda Mureithi, Thomas Gachie, Petra de Haas, Barry Kosloff, Peter J. Dodd, Maria Ruperez, Chali Wapamesa, James Michael Burnett, Nico Kalisvaart, Nkatya Kasese, Redwaan Vermaak, Albertus Schaap, Sarah Fidler, Richard Hayes, Helen Ayles, on behalf of the TREATS study team

PLOS Medicine: published September 8, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004278

Real-time surveillance of international SARS-CoV-2 prevalence using systematic traveller arrival screening: An observational study

Adam J. Kucharski, Kiyojiken Chung, Maite Aubry, Iotefa Teiti, Anita Teissier, Vaea Richard, Timothy W. Russell, Raphaëlle Bos, Sophie Olivier, Van-Mai Cao-Lormeau

PLOS Medicine: published September 8, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004283

Estimating the proportion of clinically suspected cholera cases that are true Vibrio cholerae infections: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Kirsten E. Wiens, Hanmeng Xu, Kaiyue Zou, John Mwaba, Justin Lessler, Espoir Bwenge Malembaka, Maya N. Demby, Godfrey Bwire, Firdausi Qadri, Elizabeth C. Lee, Andrew S. Azman

PLOS Medicine: published September 14, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004286

Impact of taxes and warning labels on red meat purchases among US consumers: A randomized controlled trial

Lindsey Smith Taillie, Maxime Bercholz, Carmen E. Prestemon, Isabella C. A. Higgins, Anna H. Grummon, Marissa G. Hall, Lindsay M. Jaacks

PLOS Medicine: published September 18, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004284

Evaluating socioeconomic inequalities in influenza vaccine uptake during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cohort study in Greater Manchester, England

Ruth Elizabeth Watkinson, Richard Williams, Stephanie Gillibrand, Luke Munford, Matt Sutton

PLOS Medicine: published September 26, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004289

Access to publicly funded weight management services in England using routine data from primary and secondary care (2007–2020): An observational cohort study

Karen D. Coulman, Ruta Margelyte, Tim Jones, Jane M. Blazeby, John Macleod, Amanda Owen-Smith, Helen Parretti, Richard Welbourn, Maria Theresa Redaniel, Andy Judge

PLOS Medicine: published September 28, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004282

Cover