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The purpose of this study was to identify the predictors of child undernutrition and anemia among children 6–24 months old in the East Mamprusi district, Northern region, Ghana.

This cross-sectional study recruited 153 children and their mothers. Weight, height and hemoglobin levels of the children were measured. A structured questionnaire based on the World Health Organization's indicators for assessing infant and young child feeding practices was used to collect data on parents' socioeconomic status, household characteristics, hygiene and sanitation practices, mothers' knowledge on feeding practices such as child's meal frequency and dietary diversity and child morbidity within the past two weeks. Predictors of child nutritional status were determined using multinomial logistic regression analysis.

Underweight in the children was significantly predicted by maternal knowledge on protein foods (AOR = 0.045, p = 0.008), time of initiation of complementary feeding (AOR = 0.222, p = 0.032) and maternal age (AOR = 9.455, p = 0.017). Feeding child from separate bowls (AOR = 0.239, p = 0.005), minimum meal frequency per child's age (AOR = 0.189, p = 0.007) and time of initiation of complementary feeding (AOR = 0.144, p = 0.009) were significant determinants of stunting among the children. Exclusive breast feeding (AOR = 7.975, p = 0.012) and child's past morbidity (AOR = 0.014, p = 0.001) significantly contributed to anemia among the children.

This is a cross-sectional study and cannot establish causality. The small sample size also limits the generalizability of study findings. However, findings of the study highlight factors which could potentially influence the high rate of child undernutrition in the study setting.

This study identifies determinants of undernutrition in the East Mamprusi district, an underresourced area in Ghana. This information could inform the development/reformulation of locally sensitive key messages and targeted intervention strategies to curb the high levels of child undernutrition in the East Mamprusi district of Ghana.

This study identifies maternal care practices as key potential drivers of undernutrition in a low-resource setting known for high prevalence of child undernutrition. It suggests insight for large-scale studies on the predictors of child undernutrition in Northern Ghana and other resource-poor settings.

Mental illness presents a huge individual, societal and economic challenges, currently accounting for 20% of the worldwide burden of disease. There is a gap between the need for and access to services. Digital technology has been proven effective in e-mental health for preventing and treating mental health problems. However, there is a need for cross-disciplinary efforts to increase the impact of e-mental health services. This paper aims to report key challenges and possible solutions for cross-disciplinary and cross-sectorial research teams within the domain of e-mental health.

The key challenges and possible solutions will be discussed in light of the literature on effective cross-disciplinary research teams.

Six topics have been key challenges in our cross-disciplinary and cross-sectorial research team: to develop a shared understanding of the domain; to establish a common understanding of key concepts among the project participants; to involve the end-users in the research and development process; to collaborate across sectors; to ensure privacy and security of health data; and to obtain the right timing of activities according to project dependencies.

This study focuses to increase knowledge and training in cross-disciplinary and cross-sectorial research, as this is often referred to as an important tool when developing sustainable solutions for major societal challenges.

This study needs to include theory and skills training in cross-disciplinary research in research training.

Cross-disciplinary teams have the potential to address major societal challenges, including more perspectives and more stakeholders than single disciplinary research teams.

Major societal challenges require complex and sustainable solutions. However, there is a lack of knowledge about how cross-disciplinary and cross-sectorial research teams may work productively to solve these challenges. This paper shares experiences regarding the challenges and possible solutions for productive collaboration in cross-disciplinary and cross-sectorial research teams within the domain of e-mental health services.