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Public Health Nutrition and Food Security

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Course Type Course Code No. Of Credits
Discipline Core SPG2PH407 4

Semester and Year Offered: 2nd Semester, 1st year

Course Coordinator and Team: Samik Chowdhury & N. Nakkeeran

Email of course coordinator: samik@aud.ac.in

Pre-requisites: None

Aim:

  • To help students understand the core concepts of nutrition
  • To make students acquainted with methods of nutritional status assessments
  • To help students understand the applied concepts of nutrition e.g. biological associations between nutrition and health and  the role played by nutrition in public health achievements and failures
  • To help students combine principles and practices from nutrition and social and behavioral science to enumerate, appreciate and assess food and nutrition strategies as integral part of public health policies and programmes
  • To help students develop a political economic understanding of changing food systems and its impact on food security, nutrition and public health.

Course Outcomes:

On successful completion of this course, students are expected to:

  • Develop an understanding of the scientific principles of nutrition and their relation with public health outcomes
  • Be conversant with the measures of nutritional assessment and their application
  • Have a sensitive understanding of the complex relationship between food, society and culture and its public health implications
  • Cultivate a critical approach towards analysing public policies on food security and nutrition and their implications for public health.

Brief description of modules/ Main modules:

Module 1: Food science and nutrition principles

This introductory module presents the scientific principles of human nutrition. It introduces students to macronutrients (carbohydrates, protein, lipids and water), micronutrients (vitamins, minerals etc.) and their common food sources and recommended dietary allowance (RDA) or estimated average requirement.

Module 2: Nutritional assessments

This module deals with nutrition related measurements and indices and their application in assessing nutritional status. It includes dietary, biochemical and anthropometric, measurements of nutritional status. This module will also introduce students to monitoring and evaluation techniques for nutrition interventions.

Module 3: Nutrition and public health

This module deals with the relationship between diets and disease, nutrition-related public health achievements and current nutritional issues around the world and in India. In addition to under-nutrition, which has been a historical focus of public health nutrition, the module will also cover the role of nutrition in chronic non-communicable diseases.

Module 4: Food, society and culture

Apart from its functional role, food also has important cultural connotations and social significance. This module engages with the complex relations between society, culture and food. The objective is to demonstrate how societal norms, customs and behaviours play an important role in what we eat and how our food gets to our plate. The module will explore how identities for instance, gender, ethnicity, class, caste, religion etc. are constructed through food production, preparation and consumption, as well as how these dimensions shape access to food and nutritional services.

Module 5: Food security and nutrition

Nutrition is intimately related to food security which stands for consistent and reliable access to safe, nutritious food. In addition to the obvious impact on physical well-being, food insecurity can result in risky coping strategies, lost productivity, increased expenditures on medical needs, and mental health issues. This module will uncover some of these issues with a particular focus on the Indian scenario. The experiences of special groups like pregnant women, children and tribal population with food security and nutrition in India will be particularly engaged with in this module.

Module 6: Food and nutrition in public policy

This purpose of this module is to familiarize students with the salient features, successes and inadequacies of policies and programmes that have historically tried to address nutrition related issues in India. Students will be encouraged to critically analyze the contexts, processes, stakeholder interactions and evaluation of these policies and programmes. Crucial systemic and programmatic interventions in nutrition and food security like the ICDS, mid-day meal, PDS, Poshan Abhiyan will be taken up for critical analysis. The module will also take up for discussion public health campaigns around right to food, community based models on nutritional rehabilitation and campaigns against corporate interests in food products.

Assessment Details with weights:

  • Term paper (30%)
  • Project report and presentation (30%)
  • Written examination (40%)

Reading List:

  • Dasgupta, R., Sinha, D., &Yumnam, V. (2014). Programmatic response to malnutrition in India, room for more than one elephant. Indian pediatrics, 51(11), 863–868. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13312-014-0518-5
  • Deaton, Angus and Dreze, Jean (2009), ‘Food and Nutrition in India: Facts and Interpretations’, EPW, Vol 44, No 7.
  • Drèze J (2004) Democracy and the Right to Food. Economic & Political Weekly, 24 April, 24, 1723– 1731.
  • Geetha Reddy, Rob M. van Dam, 2020. ‘Food, culture, and identity in multicultural societies: Insights from Singapore, Appetite, Volume 149.
  • Gopalan C (2007): From ‘Farms to Pharmacies’: Beginnings of a Sad Decline. Economic and Political Weekly, September 1, 2007, pp. 3535-3536
  • Iverson, Vegard and P.S. Raghavendra.2006. ‘What the signboard hides: Food, Caste and employability in small South Indian eating places’, Contributions to Indian Sociology 40(3):311-341.
  • J. Mann and S. Truswell (2002). Essentials of Human Nutrition, 2nd edition. Oxford University Press.
  • Khare.R.S and M.S.A Rao.(Ed.). 1986. Food Society and culture. Aspects of south Asian food systems. Carolina Academic Press; US. (Pages 185-222)
  • Khera, R. (2008). Starvation Deaths and 'Primitive Tribal Groups'. Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 43, Issue No. 52.
  • Mark Lawrence, Tony Worsley – Public Health Nutrition: From Principles to Practice, Allen and Unwin, Routledge (2007).
  • Mintz, Sidney and Christine M. Du. Bois.2002. ‘The anthropology of food and eating’. Annual Review of Anthropology 31:99-119.
  • Murcott, Anne. 1988. "Sociological and Social Anthropological Approaches to Food and Eating." World Review of Nutrition and Dietetics 55:1-40.
  • National Nutrition Policy, 1993. Department of Women and Child Development, Government of India. Available at https://wcd.nic.in/sites/default/files/nnp_0.pdf
  • Nestle, M. and M. F. Jacobson. Halting the obesity epidemic: a public health policy approach. Public Health Rep. 115 (1):12-24, 2000.
  • Patnaik. U. (2004). The Republic of Hunger. Social Scientist Vol. 32, No. 9/10, Sep. - Oct., 2004
  • Siegel, B. R. (2018). Hungry Nation: Food Famine and the Making of Modern India”. Cambridge University Press.
  • The National Food Security Bill (2013) India Ministry of Law and Justice. The Government of India, viewed September 2014 <http://indiacode.nic.in/acts-in-pdf/202013.pdf
  • Waterlow, J.C. (1974): Some Aspects of Childhood Malnutrition as a Public Health Problem, British Medical Journal, October, pp. 88.
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