Investigating foods and beverages sold and advertised in deprived urban neighbourhoods in Ghana and Kenya: a cross-sectional study
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2020
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BMJ Open
Abstract
Objectives This study aimed to characterize the
local foods and beverages sold and advertised in three
deprived urban African neighborhoods.
Design Cross-sectional observational study. We undertook
an audit of all food outlets (outlet type and food sold) and
food advertisements. Descriptive statistics were used to
summarise exposures. Latent class analysis was used to
explore the interactions between food advertisements,
food outlet types, and food type availability.
Setting Three deprived neighborhoods in African cities:
Jamestown in Accra, Ho Dome in Ho (both Ghana) and
Makadara in Nairobi (Kenya).
The main outcome measures Types of foods and beverages
sold and/or advertised.
Results Jamestown (80.5%) and Makadara (70.9%)
were dominated by informal vendors. There was a wide
diversity of foods, with high availability of healthy (eg,
staples, vegetables) and unhealthy foods (eg, processed/
fried foods, sugar-sweetened beverages). Almost half of
all advertisements were for sugar-sweetened beverages
(48.3%), with higher exposure to alcohol adverts compared
with other items as well (28.5%). We identified five latent
classes which demonstrated the clustering of healthier
foods in informal outlets, and unhealthy foods in formal
outlets.
Conclusion Our study presents one of the most detailed
geospatial exploration of the urban food environment in
Africa. High exposure to sugar-sweetened beverages
and alcohol both available and advertised represent
changing urban food environments. The concentration
of unhealthy foods and beverages in formal outlets and
advertisements of unhealthy products may offer important
policy opportunities for regulation and action.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
foods and beverages, deprived urban neighbourhoods, Kenya
Citation
Green MA, Pradeilles R, Laar A, et al. Investigating foods and beverages sold and advertised in deprived urban neighbourhoods in Ghana and Kenya: a cross sectional study. BMJ Open 2020;10:e035680. doi:10.1136/ bmjopen-2019-035680