About Us

About Us &

Wits, DPHRU

The MRC/Wits Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit (DPHRU) is situated in the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) as an extramural research unit based at the University of the Witwatersrand.

Wits, DPHRU

At Wits,

DPHRU forms part of the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health in the School of Clinical Medicine of the Faculty of Health Sciences.

Addressing national priorities of increasing life expectancy, decreasing maternal and child mortality and strengthening health system effectiveness, DPHRU forms a unique research platform with substantial infrastructure and equipment, extensive longitudinal data from the Birth to Twenty Plus cohort, and well-established links with urban and rural South African communities.

Specifically, DPHRU investigates genetic, physiological, psycho-social, and lifestyle determinants of growth and development, obesity and risk of Cardio Metabolic disease, and healthy ageing through innovative multi-disciplinary methodologies across the life-course.

DPHRU

DPHRU draws upon a conceptual framework that sees health in adult life as a product of a multi-generational process that can be affected adversely by shocks or deprivation, as well as enhanced by the existence of protective factors or appropriate interventions in critical periods.

Insight into the converging complexity of environmental and social factors across the lifespan in South Africa is critical for understanding the pathways to the development of ill-health, engaging in effective advocacy, and leading the development of successful interventions.

DPHRU is well positioned to provide scientific and local formative and intervention research in the area of developmental origins of health which will complement the science of existing research entities tackling metabolic disease, health and wellbeing in South Africa.

More information about MRC/Wits Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit (DPHRU)

The mission of DPHRU is:

To improve the health of South Africans through researching and developing interventions to reduce the risk/prevalence of chronic disease at critical developmental periods across the lifespan.

The MRC/Wits Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit (DPHRU) is situated in the Department of Paediatrics in the School of Clinical Medicine. Addressing the national priorities of increasing life expectancy, decreasing maternal and child mortality and strengthening health system effectiveness, DPHRU forms a unique research platform with substantial infrastructure and equipment, extensive longitudinal data from the Birth to Twenty cohort, and well-established links with the urban and rural South African communities. Specifically, DPHRU investigates genetic, physiological, psycho-social, and lifestyle determinants of growth and development, obesity and risk of cardio-metabolic disease, and healthy ageing through innovative multi-disciplinary methodologies across the lifespan.

ACTION:

Who We Are

An initiative aimed at curbing and addressing the rapid growing obesity epidemic in Africa

ACTION is hosted by the MRC/Wits Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit, with a vision…. ‘’To prevent and manage obesity in Africa through evidence based actions!’’

An urgent need for the primary prevention and management of obesity exists in African communities from early life through to ageing.

More About Us

The African Centre for Obesity Prevention (ACTION) is a non-profit research centre at the MRC/Wits DPHRU, that aims to prevent obesity by promoting interventions, systems, policies, and programmes, that encourage healthy eating and physical activity, in Africans across the life-course.

ACTION will provide rigorous and comparable measurement of Africa’s obesity prevalence and evaluate the strategies used to address the impact on populations.

ACTION makes this information freely available so that policymakers have the evidence they need to make informed decisions about how to allocate resources to best improve population health.

Our Objectives

To summarise and disseminate African data and trends in obesity, to the public, government and media;
To provide a repository of the most effective obesity prevention policies and programmes available in Africa in order to encourage lifestyle change to prevent and manage obesity;
To provide a credible and evidence based source of information on the causes of obesity and associated NCDs, as well as fact sheets on how to increase physical activity, decrease sedentary behaviour, and make healthy nutritional choices;
To support new local and international studies in the field of obesity prevention in African populations;
To provide intellectual expertise for national surveillance studies and obesity targeted interventions across Africa

Our Mission

Our mission is to prevent and manage obesity, and in-turn improve the health of Africa’s population through evidence based science and research about the obesity epidemic.

Research

ACTION’s research is organised around answering three critical questions that are essential to understanding the current state of Africa’s obesity crisis and the strategies necessary to improve it.