Public Nutrition Program

Public Nutrition Program

Introduction

Much is currently known about the prevalence and causes of nutritional problems that afflict the populations of developing countries. It is also required that the combination of a triad investments, political will and implementation of effective public policies so that these problems can be tackled first (Reutter, 2002). In general, large-scale interventions, aimed at the prevention or treatment of these problems are implemented without the corresponding evaluations of their impact on indicators of nutritional status or health. Knowledge about which policies are effective, however, depends on driving of such evaluations.

Despite the important need to know what works or not, affect assessments are rare and the methodological quality of which are performed varies widely (Dwyer, 2006). The lack of information about what works or does not leave decision makers with little basis to defend the right of its investments or, if necessary, to improve programs.

Nutrition, particularly child nutrition, has been the target of numerous programs aimed at preventing malnutrition and specific nutritional deficiencies 3-6. Huge sums of resources have been spent by governments and international foundations and very little is known about the actual effect of these programs or interventions on the handicaps it seeks to prevent or treat.

Discussion

The aim of this paper is to discuss, in light of the epidemiology, the types of studies that can be used to assess the impact of programs on nutrition (Dwyer, 2006). In this context, impact means the effect of an intervention or program on the target population. Specifically, the study aims to present the epidemiological designs can be used for impact assessments of programs or interventions to scale. Two aspects are important when planning and evaluate an intervention program to improve child nutrition:

The type of food, supplement and / or nutritional advice that is dispensed,

The process employed ...