Dr Hibbah Osei-Kwasi

Hibbah Osei-Kwasi is a Lecturer in the School of Sport, Exercise & Health Sciences in the field of Nutrition. She has a BSc in Community Nutrition from the University for Development Studies, Ghana. She then obtained a master's degree in Nutrition and Rural Development from Ghent University, Belgium, and a PhD in Public Health Nutrition from the University of Sheffield. Prior to commencing her PhD, Hibbah worked as a Research Assistant at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, Ghana, where she was involved in various nutrition and intervention research.

Hibbah’s PhD project adopted a mixed method research approach to explore the determinants of dietary behaviour, dietary acculturation and household food insecurity among Ghanaians living in Europe.

After her PhD in 2017, she worked as a research associate on two global public health nutrition projects, and led the development of  "The African urban food environment framework for creating healthy nutrition policy and interventions in urban Africa”.

Hibbah was then employed as a lecturer in Public Health Nutrition in the Department of Clinical Sciences and Nutrition at Chester University (2018-2019). Hibbah was awarded the prestigious AXA post-doctoral research fellowship at the University of Sheffield to explore culinary practices of African immigrant women in Greater Manchester and their readiness to prevent overweight/obesity (2019-2022).

Hibbah has an interest in global health and nutrition issues in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). She also has specialist research interests in dietary behaviours and behaviour change interventions for people of African and Caribbean origin (Black Minority ethnic groups). Hibbah’s research cuts across nutrition, psychology, and public health.

Current/past research projects

• Towards healthier culinary practices among Ghanaian women. AXA research fellowship (2019-2022).
• Sahara Total Lifestyle Challenge: A pilot diet and lifestyle intervention for African and Caribbean people in Greater Manchester. Funded by the Global Majority fund and the Caribbean and Health Network, Greater Manchester (2021-2022) Role: Principal Investigator.
• Cooking as part of Sustainable Food System. Funded by Global Challenges Research Fund. Funded by GCRF. Role: Co- Investigator.
• Developing tools to implement and evaluate interventions to promote healthy diets in Ghana that prevent all forms of malnutrition funded by HEFCE Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF). Role: Co- Investigator.
• MRC-GCRF Foundation Award. TACLED project: Transitions in African Cities Leveraging Evidence for Diet-related non-communicable diseases; 2017-2019. Role: Research Associate.
• DFC Competitive Grants Program (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation). Dietary transitions in Ghanaian cities: mapping the factors in the social and physical food environments that drive consumption of energy dense nutrient-poor foods and beverages, to identify interventions targeting women and adolescent girls throughout the reproductive life course; 2017-2019. Role: Research Associate.
• DEDIPAC project (DEterminants of DIet and Physical ACtivity). 2014-2015. Role: Research Assistant.

• Hibbah is the co-chair of a special interest group: Diet and Health of Ethnic Minority groups, launched by The Nutrition Society, UK, in July 2022.
• Hibbah is the founder and co-director of a community interest company, Sahara Nutrition, providing nutrition support and education to people of African and Caribbean origin living in Greater Manchester and the UK at large.  The Sahara Nutrition project proposal was awarded a place on the highly competitive SUCCESS programme, which was a first-of-its-kind incubator national programme designed to help social scientists with innovative and marketable research ideas.
• Facilitation and hosting of weekly nutrition and lifestyle education for African and Caribbean communities in the UK, in collaboration with the Caribbean and African Health Network. All sessions streamed live on Facebook and YouTube. 2020-date.
• International Expert on the Healthier Diets for Healthy Lives (HD4HL) Ghana. 2022.
• Article contributor to The Conversation Topic: How migrants’ eating habits change: the case of Ghanaian in the UK.

Invited lectures/keynotes

• Invited by The Nutrition Society, UK, to speak at the 4th International Symposium on Nutrition (ISN 2022): Urban Food Policies for Sustainable Nutrition and Health. Topic: Non-communicable diseases and the urban environment: A focus on Ghanaian populations (27-28 January 2022). 
• Enterprising Impact Series: Invited as a guest speaker on “Connect the dots – how to combine the elements of a successful research career” (3 May 2022). 
• Invited speaker at SheffWHO, a simulation of the World Health Assembly run by the World Health Organisation in which discussions and debates over global health issues are held to map out possible solutions by postgraduate students (11-13 March 2022 in Sheffield, UK). Topic: Malnutrition- Feeding the new world.
• Invited speaker by the University of Greenwich: thinking unpacked: a case study on ultra-processed packaged foods (UPPFs) among adolescents in Ghana (23 July 2021).
• Invited guest speaker by Ghanaian Community Greater Manchester on Independence Day Celebration 2020. Topic: Health of Black Minority Ethnic groups.
• Panel discussant on International Women’s Day event organised by GH scientific 2021. Topic: Choose to challenge the status quo.
• Guest lecture on “Nutrition during covid 19”, to Muslim Women Researchers, UK (2020).
• Panel discussant for UN75 Expert Panel on food security as part of the UK’s largest United Nations 75th Anniversary Festival. (2020). 
• The Africa Food Environment Research Network (FERN): Invited to speak on the development of the African food environment framework. FERN 2020.  
• Workshop facilitator and speaker, 1st world congress on Migration, Ethnicity, Race and Health, Edinburgh: ‘Determinants of dietary behaviour in migrants–the role of acculturation’ (17-19 May 2018).
• N8 Agrifood Annual Conference: Invited speaker: "Dietary transitions in African cities". Hibbah joined a panel of experts who are working on food systems in the Global South for a discussion after following her presentation (18 June 2018).

Learned society affiliations

• Global Society on Migration, Ethnicity, Race and Health
• Association for Nutrition - Registered Nutritionist
• Fellow of Higher Education Academy
• African Nutrition Society
• Agriculture Nutrition and Health Academy

Awards

• 2018 Recognition Award for excellent leadership, team working and exemplary professionalism by the University of Sheffield.
• 2018 Recognition Award for leadership. Nutrition module. “Feedback from the students was the most positive across the whole course. - University of Sheffield.
• 2016 Best oral presentation, SIID 7th Annual International PGR Conference, Sheffield.
• 2016 Best poster presentation, ScHARR PGR conference, University of Sheffield.
• 2011-2012 University of Ghent Fellowship for Academic Excellence, Belgium.

Visiting Titles

Adjunct Senior Lecturer - Department of Family and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ghana.

• Laar, A. K., Addo, P., Aryeetey, R., Agyemang, C., Zotor, F., Asiki, G., Osei-Kwasi, H.A., ... & Holdsworth, M. (2022). Perspective: Food Environment Research Priorities for Africa—Lessons from the Africa Food Environment Research Network. Advances in Nutrition, 13(3), 739-747. DOI: 10.1093/advances/nmac019
• Ismail, S.U., Asamane, E.A., Osei-Kwasi, H.A., Boateng, D. (2022). Socioeconomic Determinants of Cardiovascular Diseases, Obesity, and Diabetes among Migrants in the United Kingdom: A Systematic Review. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 19, 3070. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19053070
• Pradeilles, R., Holdsworth, M., Olaitan, O., Irache, A., Osei-Kwasi, H., Ngandu, C., & Cohen, E. (2022). Body size preferences for women and adolescent girls living in Africa: A mixed-methods systematic review. Public Health Nutrition, 25(3), 738-759. DOI: 10.1017/S1368980021000768
• Akparibo, R., Osei-Kwasi, H.A. & Asamane, E.A. (2021). Flipped learning in the context of postgraduate public health higher education: a qualitative study involving students and their tutors. Int J Educ Technol High Educ 18, 58. DOI: 10.1186/s41239-021-00294-7
• Roosen, I., Salway, S., Osei-Kwasi, H.A. (2021). Transnational social networks, health, and care: a systematic narrative literature review. Int J Equity Health 20, 138. DOI: 10.1186/s12939-021-01467-6
• Armstrong, B., Reynolds, C., Martins, C.A., Frankowska, A., Levy, R.B., Rauber, F., Osei-Kwasi, H.A., Vega, M., Cediel, G., Schmidt, X., Kluczkovski, A., Akparibo, R., Auma, C.L., Defeyter, M.A.A., Tereza da Silva, J. and Bridge, G. (2021), "Food insecurity, food waste, food behaviours and cooking confidence of UK citizens at the start of the COVID-19 lockdown", British Food Journal, Vol. 123 No. 9, pp. 2959-2978. DOI: 10.1108/BFJ-10-2020-0917
• Pradeilles, R., Irache, A., Wanjohi, M. N., Holdsworth, M., Laar, A., Zotor, F., Osei-Kwasi H.A. ... & Griffiths, P. (2021). Urban physical food environments drive dietary behaviours in Ghana and Kenya: A photovoice study. Health & Place, 71, 102647. DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2021.102647
• Osei-Kwasi, H. A., Laar, A., Zotor, F., Pradeilles, R., Aryeetey, R., Green, M., ... & Holdsworth, M. (2021). The African urban food environment framework for creating healthy nutrition policy and interventions in urban Africa. Plos one, 16(4), e0249621. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0249621
• Osei-Kwasi, H., Mohindra, A., Booth, A., Laar, A., Wanjohi, M., Graham, F., . . . Holdsworth, M. (2020). Factors influencing dietary behaviours in urban food environments in Africa: A systematic mapping review. Public Health Nutrition, 23(14), 2584-2601. DOI: 10.1017/S1368980019005305
• Holdsworth, M., Pradeilles, R., Tandoh, A., Green, M., Wanjohi, M., Zotor, F., Osei-kwasi H.A. ... & Laar, A. (2020). Unhealthy eating practices of city-dwelling Africans in deprived neighbourhoods: evidence for policy action from Ghana and Kenya. Global food security, 26, 100452. DOI: 10.1016/j.gfs.2020.100452
• Rousham, E., Pradeilles, R., Akparibo, R., Aryeetey, R., Bash, K., Booth, A., Osei-Kwasi H.A. ... Holdsworth, M. (2020). Dietary behaviours in the context of nutrition transition: A systematic review and meta-analyses in two African countries. Public Health Nutrition, 23(11), 1948-1964. DOI: 10.1017/S1368980019004014
• Reynolds, C., Schmidt Rivera, X., Frankowska, A., Kluczkovski, A., Bridle, S. L., Martins, C., Osei-Kwasi H.A. ... & Mensah, D. (2020). Cooking as part of a global sustainable food system - a 6 country pilot survey.
• Green, M. A., Pradeilles, R., Laar, A., Osei-Kwasi, H., Bricas, N., Coleman, N., ... & Holdsworth, M. (2020). Investigating foods and beverages sold and advertised in deprived urban neighbourhoods in Ghana and Kenya: a cross-sectional study. BMJ open, 10(6), e035680. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-035680
• Osei-Kwasi, H. A., Boateng, D., Danquah, I., Holdsworth, M., Mejean, C., Terragni, L., ... & Beune, E. (2019). Acculturation and food intake among Ghanaian migrants in Europe: Findings from the RODAM study. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior. DOI:  10.1016/j.jneb.2019.09.004
• Boateng, D., Galbete, C., Nicolaou, M., Meeks, K., Beune, E., Smeeth, L., Osei-Kwasi, H.A. ... & Spranger, J. (2019). Dietary Patterns Are Associated with Predicted 10-Year Risk of Cardiovascular Disease Among Ghanaian Populations: the Research on Obesity and Diabetes in African Migrants (RODAM) Study. The Journal of Nutrition, 149(5), 755-769. DOI: 10.1093/jn/nxz002
• Osei-Kwasi, H. A., Nicolaou, M., Powell, K., & Holdsworth, M. (2019). “I cannot sit here and eat alone when I know a fellow Ghanaian is suffering”: Perceptions of food insecurity among Ghanaian migrants. Appetite, 140, 190-196. DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2019.05.018
• Osei-Kwasi, H.A., Powell, K., Nicolaou, M. and Holdsworth, M., (2017). The influence of migration on dietary practices of Ghanaians living in the United Kingdom: a qualitative study. Annals of Human Biology, 44(5), p.454-463. DOI: 10.1080/03014460.2017.1333148
• Holdsworth, M., Nicolaou, M., Langøien, L.J., Osei-Kwasi, H.A., Chastin, S.F., Stok, F.M., Capranica, L., Lien, N., Terragni, L., Monsivais, P. and Mazzocchi, M., (2017). Developing a systems-based framework of the factors influencing dietary and physical activity behaviours in ethnic minority populations living in Europe-a DEDIPAC study. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 14(1), p.154. DOI: 10.1186/s12966-017-0608-6
• Gissing, S.C., Pradeilles, R., Osei-Kwasi, H.A., Cohen, A., Holdsworth, M. (2017). Drivers of dietary behaviors in women living in urban Africa – a systematic mapping review. Public Health Nutrition, p1-10. DOI: 10.1017/S1368980017000970
• Osei-Kwasi, H.A, Nicolaou, M. K. Powell, L. Terragni, L. Maes, K. Stronks, Holdsworth, M. (2016) Systematic mapping review of the factors influencing dietary behaviour in ethnic minority groups living in Europe: a DEDIPAC study. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Actitivity, 13(1): p.1. DOI: 10.1186/s12966-016-0412-8
• Saeed H.A, Mogendi J. B, Akparibo R, Kolsteren P. (2015). Reliability of Mid-Upper Arm Circumference Measurements taken by community health nurses. Current Research in Nutrition and Food Science, 3(1).
• Mogendi, J. B., De Steur, H., Gellynck, X., Saeed, H.A, & Makokha, A. (2015). Efficacy of mid-upper arm circumference in identification, follow-up and discharge of malnourished children during nutrition rehabilitation. Nutrition Research and Practice, 9(3): p. 268-277.