Browsing by Author "Thow, Anne Marie"

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    Determinants of dietary patterns in school going adolescents in Urban Zambia
    (Frontiers Media, 2022) Mukanu, Mulenga Mary; Delobelle, Peter; Thow, Anne Marie
    Understanding dietary patterns in a population is critical for decision making. This study aimed to identify the prevailing dietary patterns and their associated individual and school environment factors among school going adolescents in Lusaka, Zambia. Method: A cross-sectional study involving 404 Grade 10 pupils from 10 secondary schools in Lusaka district was conducted. A 108-item unquantified Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) was used to assess the learner's food intake practices.
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    Food trade and investment in South Africa: Improving coherence between economic policy, nutrition and food security
    (Food trade and investment in South Africa: Improving coherence between economic policy, nutrition and food security, 2017-12) Thow, Anne Marie; Greenberg, Stephen; Hara, Mafa; Friel, Sharon; du Toit, Andries; Sanders, David
    South Africa must address a rising burden of diet-related chronic disease while also continuing to combat persistent food insecurity and undernutrition (Muzigaba et al. 2016). The prevalence of stunting among children in South Africa remains around 25% (Said-Mohamed et al. 2015). At the same time, the prevalence of obesity has risen to 39% among women and 11% among men, and diabetes in the adult population to 10% (Shisana et al. 2014). Addressing this double burden of malnutrition will require a comprehensive policy approach that supports demand for healthy food (including financial access) and its supply. In this paper, we focus on supply side interventions – and particularly, the need for policy across sectors to support availability of affordable, healthy food (Republic of South Africa Department of Health 2013; Government of South Africa 2014). However, growing trade and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), supported by binding international commitments, present governments with a challenge as they seek to intervene in the food supply to improve diets and health. Government action to regulate the food supply to reduce consumption of unhealthy foods and increase access to healthy foods becomes subject 1) to the influence of powerful investors and other industry actors, and 2) to commitments made in international trade and investment agreements (Baker et al. 2014, Thow and McGrady 2014, Schram et al. 2015, Thow et al. 2015a, Thow et al. 2015b).
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    Improving policy coherence for food security and nutrition in South Africa: a qualitative policy analysis
    (Springer Netherlands, 2018) Thow, Anne Marie; Greenberg, Stephen; Hara, Mafaniso; Friel, Sharon; du Toit, Andries; Sanders, David
    Like most other low and middle-income countries, South Africa must address a rising burden of diet-related chronic disease in a situation of persistent food insecurity and undernutrition. Supply-side policy interventions are a critical component of action to address the double burden of malnutrition. However, the food supply is governed by a number of different policy sectors, and policy incoherence can occur between government action to promote a healthy food supply and objectives for economic liberalization. We analysed the coherence of food supply policy content with respect to nutrition and food security in South Africa, and conducted 14 in-depth interviews with 22 public and private sector actors to identify opportunities to improve policy coherence across sectors governing the food supply. Drawing on Sabatier’s conceptualization of actors as influential in shaping policy outcomes, we identified three coalitions of actors related to food security and nutrition in South Africa: the dominant Economic Growth coalition, the Food Security coalition, and the Health coalition. Understanding the frames, beliefs and resources held by these coalitions offers insights into the policy tensions faced by the Government of South Africa with respect to the food supply. The analysis indicates that the current reconsideration of economic policy agendas favouring liberalization in SouthAfrica, including the termination of most bilateral investment treaties, may present an opportunity for increased recognition of food security and nutrition priorities in food supply policy making. Opportunities to strengthen policy coherence across the food supply for food security and nutrition include: specific changes to economic policy relating to the food supply that achieve both food security/nutrition and economic objectives; creating links between producers and consumers, through markets and fiscal incentives that make healthy / fresh foods more accessible and affordable; increasing formal avenues for engagement by Civil Society in nutrition and food security policy making; and including consideration of the nutritional quality of the food supply in policy objectives across sectors, to create a framework for policy coherence across sectors relating to the food supply.
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    Mapping Obesogenic food environments in South Africa and Ghana: Correlations and contradictions
    (MPDI, 2019) Krol, Florian; Swart, Elizabeth Catherina; Annan, Reginald Adjetey; Thow, Anne Marie; Neves, David; Apprey, Charles; Aduku, Linda Nana Esi; Agyapong, Nana Ama Frimpomaa; Moubarac, Jean-Claude; du Toit, Andries; Aidoo, Robert; Sanders, David
    In sub-Saharan Africa, urbanisation and food systems change contribute to rapid dietary transitions promoting obesity. It is unclear to what extent these changes are mediated by neighbourhood food environments or other factors. This paper correlates neighbourhood food provision with household consumption and poverty in Khayelitsha, South Africa and Ahodwo, Ghana. Georeferenced survey data of food consumption and provision were classified by obesity risk and protection. Outlets were mapped, and density and distribution correlated with risk classes
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    School food environment in urban Zambia: A qualitative analysis of drivers of adolescent food choices and their policy implications
    (MDPI, 2022) Mukanu, Mulenga Mary; Thow, Anne Marie; Delobelle, Peter
    Identifying context specific points for reforming policy to promote healthier food environments and consumer behavior in critical life stages like adolescence is crucial in addressing the double burden of malnutrition. Using a qualitative study design, we conducted 20 focus group discussions with grade 10 pupils from ten secondary schools in Lusaka. Turner’s framework which conceptualizes the food environment into two domains—the external domain (availability, pricing, vendor and product properties, and marketing and regulation of food) and the internal domain (accessibility, affordability, convenience, and desirability of food)—was used to guide thematic data analysis and results interpretation. Adolescents stated their food choices are largely based on personal preference linked to the need for social acceptability among peers.
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    Trade and investment in fish and fish products between South Africa and the rest of SADC: Implications for food and nutrition security
    (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2017-10) Hara, Mafaniso; Greenberg, Stephen; Thow, Anne Marie; Chimarito, Sloans; du Toit, Andries
    This paper looks at the dynamics of intra-regional trade and investment in fish and fish products between South Africa and the rest of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region, and the implications of this trade for food and nutrition security. It is based on key informant interviews with people in the food industry in South Africa and Africa regional economic bodies. Imports and exports of fish in South Africa are driven by import substitution, shortfalls in local production, and meeting growing local and regional demand. Most South African fish and food processors prefer to export, rather than establish plants in other African countries, mainly due to factors of economic efficiency and the challenges of doing business in these countries. Currently, however, increasing volumes of fish are being imported into South Africa to meet demand from the African migrant community. While self-sufficiency and food sovereignty are acknowledged priorities for the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), imports to meet local shortfalls and specific demand ought to be acceptable options for ensuring fish food availability and affordability. The reduction or removal of tariffs, through regional free trade agreements, promotes increased intra-regional trade. Overall, imports and exports provide for demand-led exchange of fish between SADC states, which promotes increased availability and affordability of fish; thereby contributing towards food and nutrition security. However, despite regional free trade agreements that have stipulated the removal of both technical and non-technical barriers, most small-scale traders still experience problems in conducting cross-border trade. The majority of people in both South Africa and the SADC still rely heavily on the informal sector for conduct business and buying food provisions. This includes cross-border fish trade, which is dominated by small scale-traders, the majority of whom are women. The informal sector ensures that food reaches most people in an acceptable state, form and price. In order to promote and facilitate improved and efficient fish trade delivery systems and positive benefits for food security and livelihoods, governance of crossborder trade ought to be based on flexible regulations and improved implementation of these.
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    Trade, food and nutrition security in South Africa: The cases of sugar and poultry
    (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2017-10) Greenberg, Stephen; Thow, Anne Marie; Hara, Mafaniso
    The purpose of this paper is to consider the role that trade plays in food and nutrition security in South Africa. Despite an established commercial food system, South Africans experience high levels of food and nutrition insecurity – both under-nutrition and rising rates of diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) defines food security as ‘a situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life’1. This paper considers three dimensions of food security – availability, access and nutrition – and unpacks the role of trade across these dimensions at policy level and in practice in sugar and poultry, two key commodities in the food basket of resource-poor South African households. According to the South African National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (SANHANES- 1) (Shisana et al., 2013:10), 26% of households surveyed nationally reported experiencing hunger, with another 28% of households at risk of hunger. Households in ‘urban informal’ contexts, followed by those in rural formal and then rural informal settings experienced the highest levels of food insecurity. Eastern Cape and Limpopo are the provinces with the highest proportion of food insecure people. The 2005 National Consumption Survey showed that 18% of children in South Africa were stunted, with rural and then urban informal areas most severely affected. ‘Wasting’ (from poor nutrition quality, rather than insufficient food) affected 4.5% of South African children, with 9.3% of children being underweight (DAFF, 2014:9).