SLU news

New study on food and nutrition security among women and children in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Published: 21 February 2023
Fresh vegetables in a shop

There is a surprisingly high prevalence of overweight and obesity among mothers and preschool children in urban Ethiopia, despite poor diets and undernutrition still being pressing issues in Addis Ababa, researchers found.

EAT ADDIS is a five-year interdisciplinary research project in human geography that aims to give a broad overview of the food and nutrition security, the nutrition transition and changing dietary habits in Addis Ababa and their social disparities.

Researchers are participating from Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala University, Lund University, Addis Continental Institute of Public Health and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

The project shows that poor diets and stunting among pre-school children still remain pressing issues and have strong social gradient. The researchers were also surprised to find a poor nutritional status in the mothers of the pre-schoolers and overweight problems of a proportion they did not expect.

“It was quite shocking that the overweight and obesity problem among the mothers was so significant,” says Hanna Berhane, researcher at Addis Continental Institute of Public Health, who has been coordinating the field activities of the project.

Read the full interview with Hanna Berhane and her colleagues Eva-Charlotte Ekström, professor in global nutrition at Uppsala University, who is the project’s principal investigator (PI) and Beatrix Alsanius, professor in horticulture at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU). You find the story on the SIANI (Swedish International Agriculture Network Initiative) webpage.

Study on food and nutrition security among women and children in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - SIANI

EAT ADDIS – What’s to eat? Women, children and the urban food environment: the case of Addis Ababa is a five-year research project in human geography funded by the government research council for sustainable development, Formas (2016-00272) with contributions from Addis Continental Institute of Public health, Uppsala University, Lund University and Swedish University for Agricultural Sciences. The project finished in the autumn of 2022.

Written by: Teresia Borgman

Facts:

Links

Read more about the project on the web pages:

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences: What’s to eat? Women, children and the urban food environment: the case of Addis Ababa | Externwebben (slu.se)

Uppsala University: Global nutrition - Department of Women's and Children's Health - Uppsala University, Sweden (uu.se)

Lund University: EAT ADDIS - What’s to eat? Women, children and the urban food environment: the case of Addis Ababa | The Department of Human Geography (lu.se)

Addis Continental Institute of Public Health: The Eat-Addis Study – ACIPH (addiscontinental.edu.et)

Contact information

Beatrix Alsanius
Professor
Department of Biosystems and Technology
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)
E-mail: beatrix.alsanius@slu.se
Telephone: +4640-415336

Read more on Beatrix Alsanius’ CV page
Beatrix Alsanius | Externwebben (slu.se)

Hanna Berhane
Researcher
Addis Continental Institute of Public Health
E-mail: hannayaciph@gmail.com
Contact – ACIPH (addiscontinental.edu.et)

Eva-Charlotte Ekström
Professor
Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, International Child Health and Nutrition
Uppsala University
E-mail: Lotta.Ekstrom@kbh.uu.se
Telephone: 072-9999163

Read more about Eva-Charlotte Ekström’s research
Eva-Charlotte Ekström - Uppsala University, Sweden (uu.se)