Community nutrition programmes, globalization and sustainable development

Abstract

On an international scale, the last seventy-five years have been a period of deep social, economic and political transformation for the developing countries. They have been especially influenced by the international phenomenon of globalization, the benefits of which have been unequally distributed among countries. In this context, the strategies used to improve the general nutritional health of the population of developing countries include broad approaches integrating nutritional interventions in a context of sustainable community development, while valuing the existing relations between fields as diverse as agriculture, education, sociology, economy, health, environment, hygiene and nutrition. The community nutrition programmes are emblematic of these initiatives. Nevertheless, in spite of the increasing evidence of the potential possibilities offered by these programmes to improve the nutritional status and contribute to the development and the self-sufficiency of the community, their success is relatively limited, due to the inappropriate planning, implementation and evaluation of the programmes. In the present article, I attempt to emphasie the importance of community participation of the population of developing countries in the community nutrition programmes within the context of globalization. This process is not only an ethical imperative, but a pragmatic one. It is a crucial step in the process of liberation, democratization and equality that will lead to true sustainable development.