New Online Nutrition Course
Posted on November 10, 2011

FANTA-2 has designed the latest USAID online learning course on Nutrition (An Introduction). The course is available on USAID's Global Health eLearning Center portal. The course discusses the basic concepts of good nutrition and common nutritional deficiencies, the magnitude of malnutrition in different populations, vulnerable groups and the causes of undernutrition, and key indicators and ways of measuring them. It also outlines the major population-based interventions to improve nutritional status.

One-time registration at www.globalhealthlearning.org. provides free access to this and 49 other courses that cover a variety of global health topics. The course can be taken in about two hours. The reader can return to the course over a period of time.

GHeL courses are intended primarily for USAID mission staff and staff at Cooperating Agencies (CAs—other organizations that work closely with USAID) around the world. The GHeL platform is accessible using a low-bandwidth Internet connection.

Research shows that inadequate maternal and child nutrition is the underlying cause of 3.5 million deaths every year and 35 percent of the disease burden for children under 5 years of age. However, universal coverage of proven nutrition-related interventions could reduce overall mortality of children under 3 by 25 percent.

After completing Nutrition (An Introduction) the reader should be able to:

• Describe the basic concepts of good nutrition

• Understand the major nutritional deficiencies and their relative importance

• Explain nutrition in terms of a life cycle process and the importance of the crucial "1,000 days"

• Describe the relationship between infection and nutrition

• Identify the major target groups for nutrition interventions and describe the window of opportunity

• Explain three layers of causes underlying malnutrition

• Identify the major effective “short route” nutrition interventions

• Be familiar with major nutrition indicators

• Appreciate the importance of several major international program efforts in nutrition

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