Warwick Medical School, Warwick Centre for Global Health, Division of Health Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.
Technology for Research, Information and Digital Group, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.
BMC Public Health. 2022 Oct 13;22(1):1912. doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-14266-7.
Food environments are viewed as the interface where individuals interact with the wider food system to procure and/or consume food. Institutional food environment characteristics have been associated with health outcomes including obesity and nutrition-related non-communicable diseases (NR-NCDs) in studies from high-income countries. The objectives of this study were (1) to map and characterise the food-outlets within a Ghanaian university campus; and (2) to assess the healthiness of the food outlets.
Data collection was undertaken based on geospatial open-source technologies and the collaborative mapping platform OpenStreetMap using a systematic approach involving three phases: remote mapping, ground-truthing, and food-outlet survey. Spatial analyses were performed using Quantum Geographical Information System (QGIS) and comprised kernel density, buffer, and average nearest neighbour analyses to assess outlet distribution, density, and proximity. A classification system was developed to assess the healthiness of food-outlets within the University foodscape.
Food-outlets were unevenly distributed over the University foodscape, with many outlets clustered closer to student residencies. Informal food-outlets were the most frequent food-outlet type. Compared to NCD-healthy food-outlets, NCD-unhealthy food-outlets dominated the foodscape (50.7% vs 39.9%) with 9.4% being NCD-intermediate, suggesting a less-healthy university foodscape. More NCD-unhealthy food outlets than NCD-healthy food outlets clustered around student residences. This difference was statistically significant for food outlets within a 100-m buffer (p < 0.001) of student residence and those within 100 and 500 m from departmental buildings/lecture halls (at 5% level of significance).
Further action, including research to ascertain how the features of the University's food environment have or are influencing students' dietary behaviours are needed to inform interventions aimed at creating healthier foodscapes in the study University and other campuses and to lead the way towards the creation of healthy food environments at the home, work, and community levels.
食品环境被视为个体与更广泛的食品系统互动以获取和/或消费食物的接口。在高收入国家的研究中，机构食品环境特征与健康结果（包括肥胖和与营养相关的非传染性疾病（NR-NCD））有关。本研究的目的是：（1）绘制和描述加纳大学校园内的食品店；（2）评估食品店的健康程度。
基于地理空间开源技术和协作制图平台 OpenStreetMap 进行数据收集，采用系统方法，包括三个阶段：远程制图、实地核实和食品店调查。使用量子地理信息系统（QGIS）进行空间分析，包括核密度、缓冲区和平均最近邻分析，以评估网点分布、密度和接近程度。开发了一个分类系统来评估大学食品景观内食品店的健康程度。
食品店在大学校园食品景观中分布不均，许多食品店集中在学生宿舍附近。非正式食品店是最常见的食品店类型。与 NCD-健康食品店相比，NCD-不健康食品店在食品景观中占主导地位（50.7%对 39.9%），NCD-中间型占 9.4%，表明大学校园食品景观不太健康。比 NCD-健康食品店更多的 NCD-不健康食品店聚集在学生宿舍周围。对于学生宿舍 100 米缓冲区（p<0.001）内和 100 米至 500 米内的系楼/讲堂的食品店，这种差异具有统计学意义（在 5%的水平上显著）。
需要采取进一步行动，包括研究确定大学食品环境的特征如何影响或正在影响学生的饮食行为，以便为研究大学和其他校园创建更健康的食品景观提供信息，并为在家、工作和社区层面创建健康的食品环境提供指导。
