Nutrition and Planetary Health (HEALTH)
ZEF’s Division of Nutrition and Planetary Health conducts population-based research into the interrelations of climate change and other planetary systems with dietary behaviour, nutritional status, and human health. The current research program focuses on identifying the impacts of climate change on diet and nutrition, characterizing features of sustainable diets, co-designing and testing approaches for climate change adaptation and resilience in the food system, and developing strategies for nutritional benefits of climate change mitigation. The work also comprises aetiological research into overnutrition-related chronic diseases and their interactions with undernutrition and infectious diseases. The regional focus is sub-Saharan Africa.
Prof. Dr. Ina Danquah
Current Fields of Research
Climate Change and Diets
HEALTH investigates the bidirectional relationships of climate change and dietary behaviour.
Adaptation for Sustainable Nutrition
HEALTH designs, implements, and evaluates adaptation strategies for climate change impacts in the Global South.
Nutrition and Climate Change Mitigation
HEALTH develops and tests climate change mitigation approaches in the nutrition sector that confer co-benefits for health.
HEALTH Staff
- Danquah, Prof. Dr. Ina, ina.danquah(at)uni-bonn.de
- Abidha, Carol Akinyi, carol.abidha(at)uni-bonn.de; carol.abidha@uni-heidelberg.de
- Albers, Dr. med. Maike, maike.albers(at)uni-bonn.de
- Amoah, Dr. Stephen, samoah(at)uni-bonn.de
- Kurniawan, Dr. Lukas, lukas.kurniawan(at)uni-bonn.de
- Ntajal, Dr. Joshua, joshua.ntajal(at)uni-bonn.de /joshuantajal@gmail.com
- Rothenberg, Dr. Alexander, a.rothenberg(at)uni-bonn.de
- Sorgho, Dr. Raissa, raissa.sorgho(at)uni-bonn.de
- Agure, Erick, erick.agure(at)uni-bonn.de
- Amevor, Benedicta, bamevor(at)uni-bonn.de
- Bhatt, Mahir, mbhatt(at)uni-bonn.de
- Jama, Ahmed Adan, ajama(at)uni-bonn.de
- Kihagi, Grace Wothaya, grace.kihagi(at)uni-bonn.de; grace.kihagi@uni-heidelberg.de
- Nabunya, Phoebe
- Nekesa, Rhodah, rnekesa(at)uni-bonn.de
- Osei, Marian Abrafi, marian.osei(at)uni-bonn.de
- Rupia, Scarion
- Siebert, Lara, lara.siebert(at)stud.uni-heidelberg.de
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Office Manager: Saskia Schwaab (sschwaab@uni-bonn.de), Evelyn Schomberg (eschombe@uni-bonn.de), Daniela Hoberg (dhoberg@uni-bonn.de)
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Data Manager: Nils Wortmann, nwortman@uni-bonn.de
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Dietician: N.N.
HEALTH Projects
Changemaker – Promoting co-designed sustainable health interventions with young changemakers for reduced risk of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in urban Burkina Faso, Kenya and Tanzania
ClimapAfrica – Climate change adaptation and coping strategies of smallholder fisherfolks along the Ghana Volta Lake
Climate-sensitive nutrients, undernutrition and malaria
COhort on PLANT-based diets (COPLANT) Study in Germany and Austria
Game-theoretic approach of modelling and estimating the impact of human migration behaviour on malaria endemicity in Sub-Saharan Africa
HealthyDiets4Africa – Combating malnutrition in Africa through diversification of the food system
KliOL – Climate Change mitigation in Hospitals by Optimizing Supply Chains
Multi-center, prospective cohort study in Ghana on early-life exposure to malaria and nutrition-related non-communicable diseases in adult life
OPTIMA – Omics Approach for Personalized Prevention of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus for African and European Populations
PASTURES – Protected Areas for SusTainable nUtrition REsearch in Somaliland
RODAM – Research on Obesity and Diabetes among African Migrants
SOCCER – Exploring Sustainable Plant-Based Nutrition in Youth Soccer: Experiences and Perceptions of Players, Parents, and Professionals in Youth Soccer Academies
Sustainable dietary weight loss intervention for the prevention of type 2 diabetes: A family-based, randomised, controlled trial with overweight and obese adults in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
Selected publications
- Osei TB, Osei-Kwasi H, Nicolaou M, Beune E, Agyemang C, Meeks KAC, Bahendeka S, Schulze MB, Klipstein-Grobusch K, Addo J, Hayfron-Benjamin CF, Danquah I. Associations of low-carb diets with glycaemic control and diabetic complications among adult Ghanaians: the RODAM study. Eur J Nutr. 2025;64(5):207. doi: 10.1007/s00394-025-03729-3
- Herrmann A, Krippl N, Fischer H, Nieder J, Griesel S, Bärnighausen T, Schildmann J, Mikolajczyk R, Danquah I, Mezger NCS, Kantelhardt EJ. Acceptability of health-only versus climate-and-health framings in lifestyle-related climate-sensitive health counselling: results of a randomised survey experiment in Germany. Lancet Planet Health. 2025;9(6):e456-e466. doi: 10.1016/S2542-5196(25)00110-X
- Okekunle AP, Nicolaou M, De Allegri M, Meeks KAC, Osei-Kwasi H, Stockemer J, de-Graft Aikins A, Agbemafle I, Bahendeka S, Boateng D, Klipstein-Grobusch D, Beune E, Agyemang C, Schulze MB, Danquah I. A multi-dimensional Sustainable Diet Index (SDI) for Ghanaian adults under transition: The RODAM Study. Nutr J. 2024;23(1):117. doi: 10.1186/s12937-024-01009-0
- Harrison L, Herrmann A, Quitman C, Stieglbauer G, Zeitz C, Franke B, Danquah I. Effects of a cafeteria-based sustainable diet intervention on the adherence to the EAT-Lancet Planetary Health Diet and greenhouse gas emissions of consumers: a quasi-experimental study at a large German hospital. Nutr J. 2024;23(1):80. doi: 10.1186/s12937-024-00981-x
- Yeboah E, Lohmann J, Koulidiati JL, Naasengnibe K, Kyei NNA, Hamadou S, Ridde V, Danquah I, Brenner S, De Allegri M. Quality of nutritional status assessment and its relationship with the effect of rainfall on childhood stunting: a cross-sectional study in rural Burkina Faso. Public Health. 2024;234:91-97.
- Danquah I, Mank I, Hampe CS, Meeks KAC, Agyemang C, Owusu-Dabo E, Smeeth L, Klipstein-Grobusch K, Bahendeka S, Spranger J, Mockenhaupt FP, Schulze MB, Rolandsson O. Subgroups of adult-onset diabetes: a data-driven cluster analysis in a Ghanaian population. Sci Rep. 2023;13(1):10756. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-37494-2
- Herrmann A, Lenzer B, Müller BS, Danquah I, Nadeau KC, Muche-Borowski C, Traidl-Hoffmann C. Integrating planetary health into clinical guidelines to sustainably transform health care. Lancet Planet Health. 2022;6(3):e184-e185.
- Schwerdtle PN, McMichael C, Mank I, Sauerborn R, Danquah I, Bowen K. Health and migration in the context of a changing climate: a systematic literature assessment. Environ Res Letters. 2020:103006.
- Utomo DAM, Andriolo V, Bärnighausen T, Danquah I. Linking malaria in pregnancy with dietary behavior of the next generation. Brain Behav Immun. 2019;80:1-3.
- Danquah I, Bedu-Addo G, Mockenhaupt FP. Type 2 diabetes mellitus and increased risk for malaria infection. Emerg Infect Dis. 2010;16(10):1601-4.
- Aponte JJ, Schellenberg D, Egan A, Breckenridge A, Carneiro I, Critchley J, Danquah I, Dodoo A, Kobbe R, Lell B, May J, Premji Z, Sanz S, Sevene E, Soulaymani-Becheikh R, Winstanley P, Adjei S, Anemana S, Chandramohan D, Issifou S, Mockenhaupt F, Owusu-Agyei S, Greenwood B, Grobusch MP, Kremsner PG, Macete E, Mshinda H, Newman RD, Slutsker L, Tanner M, Alonso P, Menendez C. Efficacy and safety of intermittent preventive treatment with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine for malaria in African infants: a pooled analysis of six randomised, placebo-controlled trials. Lancet. 2009;374(9700):1533-42.