Selma Kambunga

BG Biogeosciences

The 2018 Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Award is awarded to Selma Kambunga for the poster/PICO entitled:

Geophagy during pregnancy and its possible health impact: a case study from Onangama village, northern Namibia (Kambunga, S. N.; Hassina, M.; Candeias, C.; Hasheela, I.; Nakakuwa, F.)

Click here to download the poster/PICO file.

I am a MSc student at the Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, University of Johannesburg in South Africa. My ongoing research project funded by National Research Foundation (NRF, South Africa) focuses on the practice of geophagy among pregnant women in Onangama village, northern Namibia. The practice of geophagy can be beneficial and harmful at the same time, however, in most cases the negative effects overshadow the positive ones. The composition of geophagic materials determines the possible benefits and detrimental health effects of the consumed materials. For my MSc, I am studying the geochemical and mineralogical composition of the consumed materials in addition to a health surveillance on pregnant women in the study area.
In this poster, we present the preliminary mineralogical and geochemical results of the geophagic materials consumed by pregnant women in the study area. We also present the possible health effects based on literature that pregnant women might experience from the consumption of these materials.