Executive Summary
Unhealthy eating is one of the main causes of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, hypertension, stroke, heart diseases, and certain cancers. NCDs rank among the 10 most frequent causes of deaths in South Africa in 2017. Good nutrition knowledge accompanied by healthy eating contributes to reducing individual’s risk for NCDs. This project will implement a nutrition education campaign among the low socioeconomic communities in Pretoria North East. We will conduct NCDs risk assessment through the non- invasive body composition measurement, individual nutrition counselling and group nutrition education. Nutrition counselling and education will be based on the South African Food- Based Dietary Guidelines (SAFBDGs). It is envisaged that not less than a quarter of the target population will be reached per year. As a result, the healthy eating messages will be propagated; people can be empowered with appropriate knowledge and practices for reducing their risk for NCDs.
Background
Food-related non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, heart diseases and obesity are of public health concern globally and South Africa is not spared. A World Health Organization (WHO)’s survey of more than 35,000 people aged 50 and over in South Africa, China, Ghana, India, Mexico and Russia reported that 78 per cent of those who participated in South Africa had hypertension.
Nutrition education is one of the most enduring, effective and economic interventions to fight malnutrition and food-related diseases through appropriate nutrition knowledge and skills. The WHO Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of NCDs 2013–2020 identifies the importance of nutrition education in its recommendation for nation states to ‘Create health- and nutrition-promoting environments. Providing the appropriate levels of nutrition education will enable individuals to make healthy food choices.
Nutrition education campaign needs to be particularly targeted at disadvantaged groups, such as those of low socioeconomic background. Low socioeconomic status is often associated with higher levels of NCDs. Research evidence has shown how nutrition education campaign helped to improve nutrition knowledge and facilitate behavior change, especially among low-SES participants. This project will contribute to realizing the sustainable development goal 3; ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages by reducing premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention.
Aim: To conduct a nutrition education campaign among the people with a low socioeconomic background in Pretoria North in order to increase awareness about healthy eating.
Project duration: One year (scalable subject funds)
Target audience: People of low economic background including adult men and women, young people and children. We aim to reach at least 10000 individuals in one year.
Objectives
- To develop a healthy eating mobile app for the propagation of the healthy eating messages of the South African Food-Based Dietary Guidelines (SAFBDGs)
- To conduct group seminars in nutrition education using the SAFBDGs
- To assess the peoples’ risk for NCD using diet and family history
- To measure the peoples’ body composition using the Hi-tech body composition analyzer
- To provide individualized nutrition counselling based on results of dietary and body composition assessments
What we plan to do
In order to realize our objectives, we will implement the following activities:
Short term plan:
- Situation analysis of nutrition education in the communities and at the healthcare facilities.
- In consultation with the Department of Health (DoH) identify the actual communities where operations are to be carried out.
- Engagement with relevant government departments and community leaders and authorities at the DoH to foster support.
- Conduct workshops with community leaders and community health workers to strengthen capacity for nutrition education in the communities.
- Conduct scheduled onsite community nutrition assessment and counselling for community members including adult men and women as well as children (in the company of parents/caregivers)
Long term plan:
- We will work with music experts to develop the messages of the SAFBDGs into songs in English, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Northern Sotho, Tswana, Sotho, Tsonga, Swati, Venda and Ndebele.
- We will engage the various communication platforms such as the Television, radio, print media, and social media to propagate the songs until the healthy eating messages become a household song in South Africa.
Benefits of the proposed project
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- Improved nutrition knowledge: The people will be educated about the diversity and the use of foods that are available within their locality.
- Dissemination of the messages of the SAFBDGs: The project will enhance the propagation of the healthy eating messages and the empowerment for behavior change.
- Improving health. The overall health of the people will improve as people embrace and practice healthy eating. Their risk for NCD could be reduced as they are empowered to identify and correctly use available foods in their locality.
- Capacity development and job creation: The project will provide an opportunity for capacity development in nutrition education for emerging nutritionists to provide the services to the people.
- Sustainability: Knowledge acquired by the participants will be useful in benefiting their lives and those of their families. Also, there will be continued dissemination of the messages of the SAFBDGs to the general public once the music is developed, validated and launched.
