Nutrition education training of health workers and other field staff to support chronically deprived communities

This paper focuses on the provision of adequate training in nutrition education to health and other community development workers for their improved performance and achievement. The difficulties encountered and special care needed when dealing with low-income, chronically deprived communities are raised. A brief analysis of past and present trends in nutrition education is presented to show the progress made from restricted, authoritative and not very successful proposals to more comprehensive and participatory approaches. The need to train and update regional and field-level personnel on the new approaches, theories and models offered by nutrition education is highlighted, but the scant availability of resources for training activities may be a great limitation for this undertaking. The contribution of educational, social, psychological and communication sciences, as well as marketing, in improving and broadening the performance of health and nutrition education is recognised. Some successful nutrition education projects, implemented in different regions, using various approaches, have managed to improve the nutrition situation of low-income groups and could be used as good examples to be followed. Recommendations for implementing nutrition education projects or activities need to consider some prerequisites, such as good knowledge and analysis of the nutrition situation, careful selection of the strategies and methods, careful planning and implementation, and clear definition of the procedures and instruments for follow-up and evaluation.