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Nurturing public health nutrition education in India

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 68, pages 539–540 (2014)Cite this article

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Lower middle-income countries, especially India, have a unique double burden of malnutrition in the setting of a rapidly changing economy, with increasing urbanization, nutrition transition and a sedentary lifestyle.1 Improving diet/nutrition and physical activity has a huge restorative potential;2 however, this simple strategy is a daunting challenge for India and the public health nutrition (PHN) community in particular.3 Moreover, India’s scientific and research contributions in this arena—whether in the form of cross-cutting high-quality landmark research studies, publications in peer-reviewed indexed journals, world-class training/teaching programs, mentorship and strategies to promote youth leadership—are abysmally low.4 This is also exemplified by the unused (almost 50%) government funding for research in general by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India.5

Education matters! We largely attribute the lack of innovative PHN strategies to curb morbidity and mortality along with poor research outputs to the current nonprogressive academic training. A mapping exercise of all nutrition-related teaching and training initiatives across India revealed <3% institutions offering training in PHN.6 An in-depth curriculum analysis is underway; however, the preliminary findings reveal lack of attention to research, policy or social determinants. The current scenario does not provide enough room or encouragement to nutrition students to develop interest and work in research. This is because the main perceived role of nutritionists in the society is limited to offering therapeutic advice. Even those who wish to engage are unable to fund their positions because of poor grant writing skills, and thus get absorbed in others’ projects with nonprogressive roles. Eventually, those who are not satisfied with this arrangement usually migrate or change their field of work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Public Health Foundation of India, New Delhi, India

    S Khandelwal

  2. Nutrition Division, St John’s Medical College, Bangalore, India

    A Kurpad

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  1. S Khandelwal
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  2. A Kurpad
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Contributors: SK wrote the first draft, AK provided critical edits and helped to finalize the manuscript.

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Correspondence to S Khandelwal.

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Khandelwal, S., Kurpad, A. Nurturing public health nutrition education in India. Eur J Clin Nutr 68, 539–540 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2014.42

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