Global Nutrition

Objectives:

The objectives of the course are to increase the student¿s knowledge, competence and skills in the field of global nutrition embracing:

• the interdisciplinary nature of nutritional problems in low-income countries
• the current key global challenges to human nutrition today
• the regional trends in nutritional indicators
• the interaction between nutrition and child health and/or development in low-resource settings
• the most common diseases affecting nutritional status of children and mothers
• the nutritional indicators and clinical and system responses to critical undernutrition
• the position of nutrition in international policy and the right based approach to water and food
• the UN structure and development relevant for nutrition policy
• the most common carbohydrate sources in different parts of the world, the preparation and nutritional values

Content:

The course content is divided into three parts:

Overview of global nutrition:

Overview of the world nutrition situation in relation to other critical issues for our common future, including: Poverty, demographic changes, water, sanitation and other environmental issues, the UN Sustainable development goals and food as a Human Right, epidemiology of global nutritional problems and their current trends.

Health and nutrition.

The influence of nutrition on the health status, including: Immunity, diseases of poverty, maternal and child health, breastfeeding, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.

Food production and nutrition in low-resource settings.

Overview of crop and livestock systems, household fuel, food production, post-harvest technology, marketing and participatory rural appraisal.

Food security and gender issues in food production are key areas.

On completion of the course the student should have the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

The student:

• Has advanced knowledge regarding the nutritional challenges globally in our world today, and regional trends in nutritional indicators
• Can analyse individual and societal factors that affect diet and health globally focusing on food security and diversity
• Has thorough knowledge of the interaction between nutrition and health, especially in low-resource settings
• Can apply knowledge of food production and trading globally and in low-resource settings
• Has thorough knowledge of the most common food crops in the world, smallholder¿s production systems, subsistence farmers¿ strategies and livestock.

Skills

The student:

• can analyse a subject matter in global nutrition, behaviour, diet and health, in light of relevant policy and research.
• Can apply the most common nutrition strategies and interventions focusing on children and mothers based on knowledge of the context
• Can use relevant methods for research focusing on use of scientific literature in an independent manner about nutritional preventive strategies relevant for SDG 1,2,3 and food as a human right

General competence

The student:

• Can present relevant global nutrition and health problems focusing on mothers and children
• Can communicate about a policy document and depict the implications for implementation priorities.
• Can contribute to new thinking about global nutrition research literature