This project seeks to implement nutrition education intervention to empower people of low socioeconomic background to eat healthy. We do this by providing up-to-date and context specific nutrition counseling after a session of nutrition assessment. With the knowledge about how food intakes influence the body composition and how these inform risks for non-communicable diseases (NCDs), people are willing to comply with recommendations for healthy eating.
Unhealthy eating is one of the main causes of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, stroke, heart diseases, and certain cancers. Diabetes and hypertensive heart diseases rank among the 10 leading causes of deaths in South Africa as reported by Statistic South Africa. Low socioeconomic status is often associated with higher levels of these diseases. People of low economic background lack the knowledge and skills of using their limited resources to make healthy food choices
This project is implementing nutrition education intervention to reach about 10000 individuals annually among the low socioeconomic communities in Pretoria North East. We conduct non-communicable diseases risk assessment through the non-invasive body composition measurement. The individuals receive nutrition counseling based on the assessment result alongside hands-on activities. Nutrition counseling and education are based on the South African Food-Based Dietary Guidelines (SAFBDGs)
People will be empowered with nutrition knowledge and skills to practice healthy eating thereby reducing their risks for non-communicable diseases. A reduced disease risk in this population will lead to reduced health care cost for individuals and health care system. The health of this population will improve thereby contributing to nation's economic growth. Also, the project will create jobs for oncoming nutritionists who will be providing the nutrition assessment, education and counseling
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
