Bio:

Andrea L. S. Bulungu is a nutrition research consultant based in Uganda. Her research focuses on methods for measuring the determinants to maternal and child nutrition, such as dietary intake, time use, and food prices in resource-poor settings. She also works on designing and evaluating multisectoral interventions for improving nutrition outcomes globally. After nearly a decade working for a multinational agriculture company, in 2011, Andrea obtained a fully funded master’s degree in public health at Washington University in St Louis. From 2016 to 2022, Andrea completed her Ph.D. at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, while continuing to consultant for the World Bank, ILRI, ICF International, and FAO, among others.

Project summary:

The prices of nutritious and nutrient-poor foods are an important lever for improving diet quality. Yet there is limited information regarding how food prices influence diets in low-income countries to inform programme or policy design. Major obstacles include the lack of actual food price data and the difficulty collecting it. This study, supported by the IMMANA Fellowship programme, aims to characterize food vendors in Kampala, Uganda; assess the variability of food prices by and within vendor type using a secret shopper method; and determine if an online food retailer such as Jumia is a feasible and valid source for food price data that could be used in future research in lieu of traditional methods.