The double (dual) burden of malnutrition is characterized by the coexistence of undernutrition along with overweight and obesity within individuals, households and populations. It is particularly...

The double (dual) burden of malnutrition is characterized by the coexistence of undernutrition along with overweight and obesity within individuals, households and populations. It is particularly evident in populations undergoing significant nutrition transition, and has been observed in both developing and industrialised country contexts. It is an emerging global phenomenon, having been reported in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and the Americas. Associated with the increasing prevalence of double burden malnutrition in recent decades is the shift away from traditional food systems towards Westernised diets characterized by increased consumption of energy-rich, but otherwise nutrient poor, foods. Traditional food systems generally involve the production, acquisition, processing, consumption, and disposal of long-established culturally-accepted foods within a particular population supplied by local resources.


The task of this assignment is to develop an intervention strategy designed to address the growing issue of dual burden households through the preservation of traditional food systems applicable to a country from one of the following regions: Africa, Asia, South America or the Pacific. The essay should comprise a description of dual burden malnutrition, its determinants, etiolgy and epidemiology (900 words), and a summary of the food production statistics and a general summary of the national dietary patterns (450 words) of the country of choice. The essay should then proceed to describe an intervention strategy (900 words) to address increasing prevalence of dual burden malnutrition.


It is expected that the essay will contain a minimum of 20 high quality, recent references from the peer review literature.


Purpose:
To apply knowledge of food systems, nutritional status of a community or population including the determinants of food insecurity; and integrate this knowledge in order to develop effective and culturally appropriate strategies or interventions to address the double burden of malnutrition.


REFERENCING:
This unit requires you to use the American Psychological Association (Sixth edition) referencing system. See the ‘Academic referencing’ page of the Student Portal for more details.