Brixton Advice Centre (BAC) will be collaborating with a team from University College London (UCL) to investigate the effects of food insecurity and poverty on people’s diet, health and wellbeing

Edwina Prayogo, a PhD student at UCL, will be conducting this research alongside two UCL MSc students in Clinical and Public Health Nutrition (Thomas Waterfall and Nurul Rahmawati). They will be supervised by interdisciplinary experts from the fields of nutrition (Dr George Grimble) and health psychology (Dr Mary Barker and Dr Angel Chater), based at UCL and University of Southampton.

“We are well aware that the success of the Foodbank movement is the flip-side of the national disgrace of food poverty. For many people, there is a real conflict between paying for heating or eating and paying for other expenses which affect Foodbank users’ health and well-being.

There is a need to get a better handle on the impact of food poverty in the UK on one’s health and wellbeing. We need empirical evidence to inform practice and policy to guide improvements on these matters.”

Dr George Grimble (pictured)
UCL Institute of Liver and Digestive Health (Bloomsbury)

 

 

The results of the research will be used to recommend effective intervention programmes to improve the diet and health of those affected by food poverty. The results will also be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal as well as being communicated at public health conferences and at public engagement events to increase awareness of the difficulties people living in food poverty face. The research will begin on 4 April 2016

“BAC does a fantastic job helping the people of Brixton and throughout Lambeth. I originally met their advisors during drop-in advice sessions at Brixton Foodbank and they were a Godsend for those facing eviction, or struggling with debt and benefits sanctions! We are very pleased Patrick and the team have opened the door for us to do this important piece of research work with them. We hope to help by providing key information to raise awareness further amongst key policy makers.”

Edwina Prayogo MSc
Researcher