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Sub-Saharan Africa is going through a transition with an increasing prevalence of non-communicable diet-related diseases. The demands of the growing population and the negative impacts of changing weather patterns affect the livelihoods of small-holder farming, the main source of food security. Agroecology is an approach which tries to overcome these challenges, using 13 principles, to build a food system which provides healthy lives without harming the environment. In literature, studies measuring the effects of agroecology (AE) on health are scarce while food security and diet diversity are analysed commonly. 

In this cross-sectional study, field data from the Vegi-leg project in the Lindi region in Southern-Tanzania is used to associate the use of agroecological principles with 3 nutritional health indicators: Body Mass Index (BMI), mid-upper-arm circumference (MUAC) and haemoglobin (Hb) using a chi-square, Cramer’s V, and an ordinal regression followed by frequency analyses of the significant results. 

The health indicator MUAC was significantly associated with AE principles 2 (input reduction) and 10 (fairness). Haemoglobin was significantly associated with AE principles  5 (biodiversity), 9 (social values and diets), and 11 (connectivity). In the ordinal regression, the effects of principle 2 for MUAC and principle 10 for Hb remained valid after adjustment for confounding.

This thesis provided the first insight into the use of AE and the direction of association with health indicators, using a household survey, opening opportunities for further research into health and agroecology.