Research conducted by recent graduate, Aishat Abubakar, has been used by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in their Non-Communicable Disease prevention strategy.
Aishat who studied MSc Nutrition, Physical Activity and Public Health received the School’s 2021 impact award for her dissertation based on sugar taxation in Nigeria.
Her thesis entitled “Lessons learnt from soda drinks taxation policies around the world and transferability of feasible measures to a lower middle-income country (LMIC) like Nigeria: A Scoping Review” has been used by WHO’s European office as an example of Non communicable disease prevention in Low to middle income countries.
In the first of a series of articles highlighting graduates making an impact in policy, we caught up with Aishat to find out about her experience of the programme and where she plans to take her career.
Hi Aishat. Thanks for agreeing to speak to us. Can I first ask why you choose to study the MSc in Nutrition, Physical Activity and Public Health degree at the University of Bristol?
My professional goal is to develop feasible solutions for the prevention and management of chronic diseases, particularly in under-represented communities.
Whilst at medical school in Nigeria, I witnessed countless preventable deaths and each experience never seemed to make the next one an easier burden to bear. This legacy fuelled my passion for preventive medicine.
Aishat Abubakar
The University of Bristol was a clear choice for me owing to its renowned curriculum for the intertwined disciplines of Nutrition, Physical activity, and Public Health. I was intrigued by the programme’s specialised coursework, it’s associated research centre and team of well-versed lecturers. I believed these to be crucial to my ambition of identifying disease determinants and acquiring innovative skills to develop practical solutions.
Can you describe your experience of the programme? For example, the teaching, any guest lecturers, small group work, cohort experience etc.
Going into the master’s programme, I was eager to connect with people of diverse backgrounds and leverage all the opportunities that the university had to offer. Sadly, due to the pandemic, some of my original plans had to change. Nevertheless, there was a wide range of support available – From the formative assignment to familiarize international students like me to the UK’s educational system, to the virtual break rooms to interact with peers. I found the teaching staff to be helpful and accessible, and their constructive feedback on essay submissions significantly increased my confidence and proficiency in research and academic writing.
In summary, it was a thrilling and thought-provoking experience that boosted my passion for public health, introduced me to new skills (such as data analysis, graphic design, and policy implementation research) and propelled me further to achieving my career goal.
And finally, where do you hope to take your career?
I aspire to be a distinguished educator and policy advocate in public health nutrition, particularly for socioeconomically deprived communities.
Since graduating, and whilst continuing to seek job opportunities in Public Health, I have continued my passion to create cost-effective health solutions by developing a free mobile application on play stores (iOS and Google) to help doctors efficiently manage malnourished children.
Ultimately, I hope to work in an environment that will place me in a position to do meaningful work in disease prevention and foster effective communication with local and international decision makers for public health needs.
Follow Aishat on LinkedIn for more on her research.