The Heart of the Matter (HOTM) was a community engagement in health science research project that acted on the growing challenge of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in South Africa. The project followed the rationale that CVD research could benefit from a more grounded understanding about what ‘healthy eating’ means to people facing the day-to-day pressures of urban township life, and the multiple drivers that inform food choices. HOTM brought together residents from the township of Delft and members of Professor Hans Strijdom’s CVD research team at Stellenbosch University (SUN). A series of interactive workshops encouraged all participants to share their perspectives about what it means to eat well, engage in dialogue about the implications of diet on health, and discuss the need for and aims of CVD research. This knowledge exchange process was fostered through a participatory visual methods process.

Adult participants engaged in a photovoice process to illustrate the accessibility of food in their context, convey key factors influencing food choices and share perspectives on what healthy eating means in the urban township of Delft. A youth group collectively, designed, scripted, and filmed a short video to highlight the increasing problem and impacts of CVD in their community. The adult and youth participants collaborated on the production of a mini documentary illustrating the exchange of knowledge and mutual learning that had taken place as a result of their engagement with the project and their partnership. The films, photographs and learning from the project were presented by the Delft participants and CVD researchers at an interactive event held in Delft, attended by 120 community members. The visual outputs of HOTM were widely disseminated to communicate the complex and intersecting factors that influence eating habits, health, and to inform the approach to CVD research.