Basic Concepts What is Public Health Nutrition? Public health nutrition is the field of study that is concerned with promotion of good health through prevention of nutrition–related illnesses / problems in the population, and the government policies and programmes that are aimed at solving these problems. Public health nutritionists / professionals use large scale, organised and multidisciplinary approaches to solve the problems that affect the population i.e., large number of people for whom group action is necessary. Therefore, this field is multidisciplinary in nature and is built on the foundations of biological and social sciences.
It differs from other fields of nutrition e.g. clinical nutrition and dietetics, because the professionals are required to address problems of the community / public specially the vulnerable groups. Public Nutrition is a special body of knowledge derived from the nutritional, biological, behavioural, social and managerial sciences. It can also be described as the art and science of promoting health and preventing diseases, prolonging life, through the organised efforts/action of society.
A community is a specific group of people who share common characteristics, e.g. a common language, exposed to similar conditions, common lifestyle or the same health problem. Any professional in the field of public nutrition has to promote good nutrition and /or to prevent nutritional problems, for which it is important to identify the problem and its magnitude , understand how and why these problems occur and then plan strategies and actions to implement them and evaluate their impact. In any society, nutritional problems are not just linked to food but to a variety of interacting/interrelated factors at various levels which have been summarised in Figure .
. While poverty is often the underlying cause, the situation becomes worse when a substantial proportion of families do not have access to basic amenities. Rural households have less access to toilets. Poor sanitation results in loss of work days and further economic loss.
Further, considerable proportion of the population does not have safe drinking water. Working days are lost each year due to water borne diseases. As shown in Figure . , the factors related to nutritional problems range from economic factors (availability of financial resources), agricultural policy (production, price of various food stuffs), health care facilities/ services, their availability and access to the government policies, political will and socio-cultural factors.
Nutritional Problems in India : It is important to have knowledge about the nutritional problems in our country. Let us discuss these in brief: a) Protein- Energy Malnutrition(PEM) : Can be found in every society, even in developed and industrialised countries, although the numbers are fewer in the latter as compared to developing countries. It is caused by inadequate food intake vis–a–vis the requirements, i.e., insufficient intake of the macronutrients (energy and protein). Children are at greatest risk although PEM can occur in adults especially the elderly, as well as in some diseases e.g.
T.B., AIDS, etc. It is assessed by evaluating the anthropometric measurements (weight, height, head- chest circumference, etc.). Quantity and quality of actual resources, e.g., human resources, financial and organisational (existence of services and the way they are operated and controlled). Political, cultural, religious, economic and social systems.
This includes status of women, allocation of funds for programmes to solve the problems, environmental degradation and biodiversity. Potential resources: environment, technology and people.