Public Health Nutrition

Public Health Nutrition focuses on improving nutritional health at population and community level. It examines determinants of nutrition and health, nutritional assessment and surveillance, food and nutrition security, nutrition across the life course, diet-related noncommunicable diseases, health promotion, nutrition policies, community collaboration, nutrition education, and the planning and evaluation of public health nutrition programmes. The course emphasizes evidence-based population-level approaches to prevention, health equity, and healthier food environments.

No Certificate / Course on Audit Track

About Course

Public Health Nutrition introduces the fundamental concepts, scope, and functions of nutrition in promoting and protecting population health. The course explores food and nutrition security, including availability, access, utilization, stability, and the drivers of food insecurity and malnutrition across the life course. It also covers key maternal, infant, and young child nutrition priorities, along with the role of nutrition in preventing and controlling noncommunicable diseases. Learners will develop an understanding of major public health nutrition challenges and the importance of nutrition-focused approaches in improving health and well-being at the population level.

Authorship and Attribution

This course has been curated by Riphah International University faculty and staff using publicly available third-party content and Open Educational Resources (OER) for self-paced learning. Learners will engage with curated open-access materials to achieve the course learning outcomes. All third-party content is used under open-access or fair-use policies, while any original materials are developed specifically for this learning experience.

Source and Credits:

Instructor: NPTEL IIT Bombay
Provider: YouTube (@IITBombayJuly)
License: Standard YouTube license

Source and Credits:

Instructor: nptelhrd
Provider: YouTube (@iit)
License: Standard YouTube license

What You'll Learn

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

Define and distinguish key concepts, principles, and functions of public health nutrition.
Explain how biological, social, economic, cultural, environmental, and policy determinants influence population nutrition and health
Apply appropriate nutrition assessment, screening, surveillance, and dietary assessment approaches to community populations.
Analyze food and nutrition security, malnutrition, obesity, and diet-related noncommunicable diseases using a population-health perspective.
Evaluate evidence-based nutrition education, health-promotion, policy, and community interventions for effectiveness, equity, and sustainability.
Design a basic public health nutrition intervention using needs assessment, stakeholder engagement, SMART objectives, implementation strategies, and evaluation indicators.

Prerequisites

Learners should have a basic understanding of Basic Human Nutrition and Nutritional Biochemistry and Introduction to Public Health Concepts
prior to starting this course. No prior community health background is required.

Who Can Take This Course?

This course is for BS Human Nutrition & Dietetics students and Allied Health Sciences students with an interest in community and population health as well as for Nutrition and dietetics trainees working in community or public health settings and public health and community nutrition practitioners seeking structured undergraduate-level learning.

Course Outline

Module 1: Introduction to Public Health Nutrition

Overview of Public Health Nutrition

Introduction, Concepts, Scope, and Functions of Public Health Nutrition (Video)

Module 2: Food and Nutrition Security

Define Availability, Access, Utilization, and Stability

Food and Nutrition Security: Concepts and Determinants (Video)

Malnutrition Across Life

Relate Food Insecurity to Malnutrition (Video)

Food and Nutrition Insecurity

Identify Drivers of Food Insecurity (Video)

Module 3: Maternal, Infant, and Young Child Nutrition

Explain Maternal Nutrition Priorities

Maternal Health (Video)

Module 4: Nutrition and Noncommunicable Diseases

Noncommunicable Diseases Control

Nutrition in the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases (Video)

Skills You Will Gain

Public Health Nutrition Food Security Concepts Malnutrition Awareness Food Insecurity Drivers Maternal Nutrition Priorities Child Nutrition Knowledge NCD Prevention Strategies Population Health Promotion

Course Information

Duration

Approximately 1.8 Hours

Difficulty Level

Intermediate

Learning Mode

Fully Online (Asynchronous)

Learning Type

Self Paced

Language

English Only