The ISER at Rhodes University invites you to join in on this fascinating research-based discussion of the growing dangers posed by the Fast-Foods industry on the health of South Africa’s majority and on the country’s public finances. This discussion is based on published research work completed through a collaboration between the ISER’s Visiting Research Fellow and recipient of the 2023 Hobart Houghton Fellowship (Dr Steffen Otterbach) as well as Prof. Mike Rogan of the Department of Economics and Economic History at Rhodes.       

Research Title:
Big Food, Fast Food and Proximity to Supermarkets: Using Google Data to Measure the Role of Fast Food in South Africa’s Obesity Epidemic
 
Research Summary:
South Africa is reported to have one of the highest rates of obesity in the world, with roughly 31% of men, 68% of women and about 13% of children younger than five considered overweight or obese (ObeCity Index 2023). Besides the impact on personal health and wellbeing, this also increases the rate of noncommunicable diseases like diabetes and hypertension-related conditions – which are currently among the country’s top-ten causes of death. The health risks associated with obesity place an increasing financial burden on the country’s public health care system and suggest an urgent need for preventive, population-level interventions (Boachie et al. 2022).

Major factors associated with the rising prevalence of obesity in developing countries include urbanization, an ongoing nutrition transition, the greater affordability and accessibility of highly processed or otherwise unhealthy foods, and, relatedly, the growing role and concentration of modern food retailing networks commonly referred to as ‘‘Big Food” and fast food restaurants.

Using a novel methodology, Dr Steffen Otterbach and Prof Mike Rogan were able to link proxies of exposure to modern food environments based on Google data with nationally representative micro-level nutrition and health data from the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) to examine the influence of Big Food and fast food on overweight and obesity levels in South Africa.

The study found that proximity to Big Food retailers and fast food restaurants increases overweight and obesity levels significantly, even after controlling for income and other confounding factors. Better understanding the links between modernizing food systems and health outcomes is crucial to ensure that the gains from economic development are not eroded through a deterioration of public health and life expectancy. The results suggest that the shape of food environments needs higher policy attention to promote more healthy food choices, which is true in South Africa and beyond.

Date:  Thursday 28th September
Time:  14:15 - 15:45 pm 

Click here to register and attend online

In-person attendance at:

The Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER)’s Seminar Room, 7 Prince Alfred Street, Makhanda, Rhodes University.

Please RSVP to b.mothlabane@ru.ac.za if you will attend in person for catering purposes.

SPEAKERS:

Dr Steffen Otterbach 
 
Dr Otterbach’s research link with the ISER and the town of Makhanda began more than ten years ago, but this year he is visiting the university as the 2023 Hobart Houghton Fellow and for this fellowship he is fittingly co-hosted by the Economics Department and the ISER. Hobart Houghton was ISER’s Director from 1967 to 1973.
 
Steffen is a senior lecturer and researcher at the Institute for Health Care and Public Management at the University of Hohenheim. With a specialization in empirical economics, his research focuses on health economics, labour economics and development economics - looking at the impact of working conditions on health and wellbeing, as well as food security and nutrition aspects in developing countries.
 
Dr. Otterbach has extensive experience in analysing large-scale data sets including the German Socioeconomic (GSOEP) Panel Study, the Australian Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics Study (HILDA), and the South African National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS). He has worked at the Organization of Economic Development and Co-operation (OECD), and is a research affiliate at the Institute for the Study of Labour (IZA) in Bonn, Germany, and a member of the Senate Committee on Research at the University of Hohenheim.

Prof Michael Rogan

Prof. Rogan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics and Economic History, as well as the Neil Aggett Labour Studies Unit (NALSU) at Rhodes University, where he runs some of their largest projects. He is also an honorary research fellow at the HSRC’s Education and Skills Development Research Programme and a research associate in the global research-policy-action network Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO). His research interests include gender, informal employment, health, poverty and inequality, food security, education and skills development, and survey design.

CHAIR:

Dr Reesha Kara