Meet the 2017 GSA Research Grant Winners

Dr. Phidelia Theresa Doegah is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Health Research (IHR) at the University of Health and DOEGAH BIOAllied Sciences (UHAS), with a background in Population Studies. Her research titled “Lifestyle Behaviours and its implications on Body Mass Index” takes off from the fact that, while non-communicable diseases usually emerge in middle age, these diseases have been increasingly reported among young people in sub-Saharan Africa.

Drawing her sample of respondents from university students, Phidelia investigates the impact on body mass index of as fruit and vegetable intake, water intake, smoking and alcohol use, duration of sleep, and physical activity. Her study focuses on youth because healthy lifestyles developed at this stage of development can prevent the incidence of non-communicable diseases. The GSA Research Grant will be used for data collection.

 

Abena Yeboah-Banin

Dr Abena Animwaa Yeboah-Banin is a lecturer at the Department of Communication Studies of the University of Ghana. Her research interests lie in the nexus between marketing and communication (particularly advertising) as well as audiences’ engagement with commercial messages. With this GSA Research Grant, Abena seeks to explore the congruence between live presenter mentioned (LPM) claims of indigenous herbal brands and their package label claims. It is premised on the possibility that presenters ‘oversell’ herbal drugs, and the fact that inconsistencies between such claims and the performance of the advertised drugs can be harmful, even fatal. Accordingly, the project seeks to content analyze matched pairs of package labels and LPMs to assess their levels of agreement. She will use the grant to fund the data collection which includes procuring recorded LPMs and herbal drugs (for their package labels), and conducting interviews with a sample of presenters who do LPMs.

 

GSA thanks the following members for their help with the selection process: Cyrelene Amoah-Boampong, Kofi Asante, Deborah Atobrah, Gretchen Bauer, Kwame Essien, Rebecca Shumway, and Nana Akua Anyidoho.