Chantell Witten

Chantell is a registered dietitian with a PhD from the North West University, South Africa.
Chantell’s work experience spans 21 years. Her dietetic career started in hospital dietetics but she quickly found that her passion lay in community nutrition. Chantell’s work experience in health and development spans across a number of sectors including government, industry, academia, NGOs and the UN agencies. Before joining the North West University in 2015, Chantell served as the Nutrition Specialist for UNICEF/South Africa from 2011-2015, providing technical support to SADC countries as well. Chantell has worked in multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary settings, leading the country programme for Helen Keller International in Bangladesh between 2005-2008 and co-ordinating the WHO/Landscape Analysis for Nutrition Programmes in South Africa and Egypt during her service with the MRC from 2008 to 2011.
Chantell’s research experience was initiated as a project coordinator with the University of the Western Cape, School of Public Health on the first-ever vitamin A supplementation programme in South Africa, which was conducted in the peri-urban setting of Mdantsane in the Eastern Cape. Chantell has participated in a number of operation research activities on breastfeeding in the context of HIV, food security and child health, health systems research and child health and nutrition evaluations.
Chantell has had advanced and on-going training in research for both qualitative and quantitative research methods. She is currently the chair of the Child Health Priorities Association. She serves on the National Department of Health Ministerial Committee for the Morbidity and Mortality in Children under 5 years, the National Department of Health Breastfeeding Technical Working Group and the Nutrition Lead for the South African Civil Society for Women, Adolescents and Child Health.
Chantell’s interest and passion is in infant feeding with particular focus on breastfeeding advocacy, policy analysis and programme implementation.