NAZEEIA SAYED

Food Security

Nazeeia Sayed is a South African registered dietitian with over 25 years of experience in various sectors (university teaching, research, corporate R&D, and nutrition consulting). She obtained her PhD in 2020.

What is/was your work about?

I am in my third year of work at the UWC. I joined as a postdoctoral fellow, and am now in a contract research role at the School of Public Health, and affiliated with the DSI-NRF Centre of

Excellence in Food Security. I have learnt so much in my time at the UWC, and I have enjoyed the research in which I was given the opportunity to participate. My first project as a postdoc examined breastfeeding practices in the Maternal and Child Health Survey data that was collected in 2020, during the peak of COVID-19 in South Africa. We found that hungry mothers were less likely to breastfeed. This paper has been published, and we hope it draws attention to the neglected aspect of trying to improve infant nutrition: that support for breastfeeding cannot be separate from maternal support.

The bulk of my time at UWC has been as a project manager and researcher for the National Food Consumption Survey (NFCS2022). Data collection for this survey concluded in September last year, and analysis and report writing are currently underway. The NFCS2022 was a collaborative national project with other research and higher education institutes in South Africa. I also led a project last year on drivers of food choices in South Africa, with nine focus groups conducted across three provinces. This year, I have been learning to use Altas.ti to analyse my qualitative data.

How has your work contributed to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?

The focus on nutrition in my research links with the SDGs on zero hunger and good health and wellbeing. Last year I was selected to visit Umeå University in Sweden. Since then, I’ve led a workshop entitled “Nourishing South Africans Sustainably”, where we explored how the environmental impact of South African diets can be assessed. This work is closely related to the SDGs on responsible consumption and production, as well as sustainable cities and communities. Working on a project with international partners and across disciplines allowed us to access new ideas and bring in different skills to design our research project. We applied for a virtual grant and hope to take our work further this year.

How is it impacting your community?

Any research done must be based on the needs of society, but the benefit of research to society may not be evident immediately. I became involved in nutrition and research because I wanted to help to make the world a better place, in some small way. The evidence we generate through research helps with advocacy to inform policy and action in order to improve food access and nutrition security for all South African citizens.