Elizabeth Onyango, PhD, MPH, BSc. Env
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
Contact
Assistant Professor, Healthy and Sustainable Communities, School of Public Health
- eonyango@ualberta.ca
- Phone
- (780) 492-9072
- Address
-
3-319 Edmonton Clinic Health Academy
11405 87 Ave NWEdmonton ABT6G 1C9
Overview
Area of Study / Keywords
Food Security and Nutrition Social Equity Health and Wellbeing of Immigrants Intersections of Gender and GBV Community Engagement Healthy Communities
About
Dr. Elizabeth Onyango is an Assistant Professor of Healthy and Sustainable Communities in the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta.
She holds a PhD in Health Geography of the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada and a Master's of Public Health, Epidemiology and Population Health of Maseno University in Kenya. Current teaching and research focuses on healthy and sustainable communities, community-based and health promotion research, community engagement in food security initiatives, and leadership and professional skills in public health practice.
Dr. Onyango's research work is grounded in eco-social framework, Afrocentrism, critical theory, community engagement and community-based participatory research approaches. She employs mixed methods approaches including both qualitative (interviews, focus groups, Afrocentric sharing circles, photovoice, and document reviews) and quantitative (survey methodologies) techniques. She has done research in Kenya, Ecuador, South Africa, and Canada and her work has been published in a variety of peer reviewed journals including Social Sciences & Medicine, PLos One, Wellbeing, Space & Society, Environments, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Public Health Nutrition, and Journal of Maternal & Child Nutrition.
Dr. Onyango’s research interests include explorative studies of what matters to communities/populations with a focus on food security and nutrition of populations and social inequalities in health and wellbeing. Her work also extends into intersections of gender, gender-based violence and household food security and the associated health outcomes in women, children, and youth.
Dr. Onyango is passionate about community engagement and service and has worked in different capacities within the academic and non-academic communities. She is currently an associate member of the Women & Children's Health Research Institute at the University of Alberta, and an associate member of the Tshepo Institute for the Study of Contemporary Africa at Wilfrid Laurier University and the Centre for Studies in Food Security at Ryerson University. Dr. Onyango is a board member of the African Community Wellness Initiative a Waterloo Region, a member of the Edmonton Food Council, and a board of directors, of Pamoja Community-Based Organization (CBO), Kisumu, Kenya.
Research
- Food insecurity, nutrition and wellbeing
- Intersections of gender, gender-based violence and household food security
- Social inequality and health and wellbeing of immigrants
- Community engagement and community-based health research
- Mixed methods research - Afrocentric sharing circles, photovoice, and survey methodologies
Teaching
- Community-based and health promotion research methods
- Leadership and professional skills in public health
Announcements
Not accepting students currently!!!
Courses
MACE 503 - Methods of Community Based Research
An introduction to research which broadly includes quantitative, qualitative, Indigenous methods and mixed methods. Research design, formulating community partnerships, formulating research questions, selecting appropriate methods, sampling, data analysis and knowledge mobilization will be included. This course is designed as a seminar, while some classes will be structured, the intent is for participants to learn from each other's experiences and research examples.
SPH 535 - Using and Creating Evidence in Public Health Practice
This is the first of two consecutive courses that provide an overview of evidence used by communities, governments, health systems, and academics to inform public health actions. This course covers practical contexts within which public health evidence is used, philosophical and disciplinary assumptions shaping views on what evidence is relevant for decision-making, and ethical and equity dimensions of evidence creation and use. Fundamental biostatistical, epidemiologic, and measurement concepts are introduced in the context of descriptive, analytic, and causal research questions, and study designs used to answer them. SPH 535 is a required course for the degree of Master of Public Health in General Public Health. Prerequisite: SPH 530. Corequisites: SPH 536, SPH 541, and SPH 562, or consent of instructor.
Scholarly Activities
Research - COVID-19 pandemic and food insecurity in African Caribbean Black identifying households in Ontario
Started: 2021-09-01
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Funded
Research - Early Career Research Fellow, Hungry Cities Partnership, BSIA, WLU
2019-07-01 to 2020-12-31
Queen Elizabeth Advanced Scholarships funded: https://www.univcan.ca/programs-and-scholarships/queen-elizabeth-scholars/qes-advanced-scholars/
Research - Food Insecurity Consequences of COVID-19 on Marginalized Refugees and Migrants in Canada, Latin America, and Africa
Started: 2022-09-01
Funded by Canadian Institute of Health Research COVID-19 Research Grant
Research - Migration & Food Security in the Global South Research Project (MiFOOD)
2021-07-01 to 2022-06-30
https://hungrycities.net/about-mifood/
Funded by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council - SSHRC
Research - Post-doctoral Fellow, Toronto Metropolitan University
2021-01-05 to 2022-04-30
Canadian school system and experiences of Black Youth in schools in Waterloo Region and Black youth mentorship.
Featured Publications
Onyango, E. O., & Elliott, S. J.
Wellbeing, Space & Society Journal. 2022 October; 3 (100110) 10.1016/j.wss.2022.100110
Preparing for COVID-19: Household food insecurity and vulnerability to shocks in Nairobi, Kenya.
Onyango, E. O., Crush, J., & Owuor, S.
Plos one. 2021 October; 16 (11)
Migration, Rural–Urban Connectivity, and Food Remittances in Kenya
Onyango, E. O., Crush, J., & Owuor, S.
Environments. 2021 August; 8 (9):92
Onyango, E. O., & Elliott, S. J.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2020 October; 72 (20):7555 10.3390/ijerph17207555
Onyango E. O. & Kangmennaang, J.
International Encyclopedia of Human Geography. 2020 March; 14 10.1016/B978-0-08-102295-5.10443-3
Kujinga, P., Galetti, V., Onyango, E. O., Jakab, V., Buerkli, S., Andang’o, P., Brouwer, I.D., Zimmerman, M.B. and Moretti, D.
Public Nealth Nutrition. 2018 May; 21 (15):2855–2865 10.1017/S1368980018001441
Kangmennaang, J., Onyango, E. O., Luginaah, I., & Elliott, S. J. (2018). The next Sub Saharan African epidemic? A case study of the determinants of cervical cancer knowledge and screening in Kenya. Social Science & Medicine, 197, 203-212.
Social Science & Medicine. . 2018 April; 197 10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.12.013
Combining food-based dietary recommendations using Optifood with zinc fortified water potentially improves nutrient adequacy among 4- to 6-year-old children in Kisumu West district, Kenya.
ujunga, P., Borgonjen-van den Berg, K.J., Superchi, C., Ten Hove, H.J., Onyango, E.O., Andang'o, P., Galetti, V., Zimmerman, M.B., Morettie, D., Brouwer, I.D.
Maternal & child nutrition. 2017 December; 14 (2): e12515
Factors in the management of feeding in nursery school children as perceived by their mothers in rural Bondo County, Kenya
Allan R Were, Felix N Kioli, Kennedy Onkware, Elizabeth O Onyango, Sussy Gumo and Ouma C.
BMC International Health and Human Rights. 2013 June; 13 (47)
Factors associated with non-adherence to Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy (ACT) to malaria in a rural population from holoendemic region of western Kenya
Onyango E.O., George A., Watsierah C.A., Were T., Okumu W., Anyona S.B., Raballah E., Orinda G.O. and Ouma C.
BMC Infectious Diseases. 2012 August; 12 (143)
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