School of Health Sciences<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Food security, including access to fresh fruit and vegetables, is an ongoing problem for many, particularly those on low incomes. It is a complex issue, and public health interventionists like Dr Geoff Kira from the School of Health Sciences are working to find creative ways to address it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With an overall focus on health equity, Dr Kira\u2019s research works to find ways to translate studies carried out at the academic level into practical approaches for practitioners and communities. \u2018We have a lot of information about issues such as disparities between ethnicities, genders and children versus elderly,\u2019 he said, \u2018but there are very few people who are able to do something about it, because the issues are too complex. That\u2019s where we (public health) come in, to help influence the environment in the community to be able to get the best outcome. We might regulate the way advertising is posted, build safer roads or advocate reducing the tax on fruit and veges. Changing the environment makes it easier for people to make healthy decisions without being influenced by things like poverty, racism, or their upbringing.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Kira\u2019s research has a strong reliance on m\u0101tauranga M\u0101ori, M\u0101ori knowledge, because of its ability to engage, focus and excite. \u2018That\u2019s the best framework that I can use because it\u2019s been tested over hundreds of years to be able to help people,\u2019 he said. \u2018The science is great from a technical point of view, but how do we influence what happens at home? That\u2019s where M\u0101ori knowledge offers a different way of interacting with, and looking at, the world. We work at the interface of M\u0101ori knowledge and scientific knowledge and try to bring them together. They complement each other very well, as far as I\u2019m concerned.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Recently, Dr Kira began a project to accurately measure the amount of fruit and vegetables a person has eaten. The standard practice for nutritionists is to rely on 24-hour recall, but this is problematic. \u2018It sounds very simple, but the problem is people have very poor memories, and fruit and vegetables are a notoriously difficult thing to remember. So, we need to have better, more objective methods.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The project will involve testing a variety of innovative ways to measure fruit and vegetable consumption. First, participants will be given a smartphone to use for the duration of the study, to take a photo of or to text in any food they eat. Fruit and vegetables will be provided to participants, and research assistants will check what is being eaten. Finally, a wearable camera will be used by those in the study, which will take photos every 15 seconds throughout the day. \u2018We\u2019re constantly looking for cutting-edge technologies that are more objective and less burdensome on the research participant, and that don\u2019t rely on them having to try to recall what they\u2019ve eaten,\u2019 said Dr Kira.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Previously, Dr Kira led a study that gave free fruit and vegetables to 40 households for three months, three quartersof whom had incomes of less than $20,000. \u2018We checked in every week and found that 88 per cent of the food was beingeaten, which is fantastic. Six per cent was going to waste, which we understood because things go off, and the other six percent was given away to friends, family and neighbours. Participants saw that people around them had less and gave whatthey had, so that was a beautiful thing that came out of that work.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Overall, the study disproved an often- repeated belief about food choices. \u2018There\u2019s this bias out there that people don\u2019t want to eat fruit and vegetables, or those on low incomes choose to eat fast food,\u2019 said Dr Kira. \u2018I\u2019m hoping that we\u2019ll be able to keep going with much bigger studies that show people in poverty want to eat fruit and vegetables. We even had educational workshops just in case they didn\u2019t know how to cook them, and they used them as social gathering times rather than education because they already knew how.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Next, Dr Kira aims to work on developing economically sustainable ways to supply fruit and vegetables to those who cannot afford them. \u2018There\u2019s so many different ways that we can do that, and we should, because access to those healthy foods is a really big issue,\u2019 he said. \u2018I\u2019m hoping to be able to have a social enterprise of different initiatives that seeds any profit back into the companies to be able to distribute more fruit and vegetables to families. Most current programmes rely on charity, but the problem is that many people in poverty don\u2019t want to take it. I think charities are wonderful, it\u2019s just that we shouldn\u2019t have to rely on them for the backstop.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DR GEOFF KIRA Ng\u0101puhi School of Health Sciences Food security, including access to fresh fruit and vegetables, is an ongoing problem for many, particularly those on low incomes. It is a complex issue, and public health interventionists like Dr Geoff Kira from the School of Health Sciences are working to find creative ways to address … Continue reading Improving access to fruit and vegetables<\/span>