Patience Gaa

Patience Kanyiri Gaa is a Lecturer in the Department of Dietetics at the University for Development Studies (UDS), Ghana, and a Registered Dietitian with over a decade of experience in clinical and public health nutrition. She has expertise in the nutritional rehabilitation of children with severe acute malnutrition, individual and group diet counselling, and women’s empowerment through cooking sessions and food demonstrations. Her passion lies in maternal and child health research, especially in resource-constrained settings.

She is currently pursuing a PhD in Dietetics at the University of Ghana, focusing on a climate-smart intervention to improve maternal nutrition and antenatal care utilization among pregnant women in Northern Ghana.

Patience is engaged in interdisciplinary research through the FLAIR Project (with New York University) and the SEED initiative (with the University of Southampton), exploring the intersections of climate change, food security, and maternal health. She is also a member of the Quality Assurance Framework for the Assessment of Nutrition in Africa (QAFANA) working group for Ghana and contributing to the establishment of QAFANA Centre of Excellence at UDS.

Her work bridges research, education, and policy to promote equitable and sustainable nutrition solutions for vulnerable populations in low-resource settings.