Desafíos de la nutrición comunitaria en Latinoamérica

A process of alimentary and nutritional transition happens in Latin America. It is characterized for changes in the pattern of food consumption and the nutritional state, observing high prevalence of growth retardation and overweight and obesity in the different age groups. In view of the nutritional and socioeconomic facts, it constitutes a big challenge to achieve the effectiveness, sustainability and equity of the communitarian programs for Latin America. For that reason, it is necessary: to guide the efforts towards the prevention in the spectrum of nutritional conditions from malnutrition to obesity, taking into account the cultural diversity and social disparities; to make fair decisions about in which groups is more important to have influence; to assess and spread the programs independently of their results; to know those success experiences better in order to adjust them to different populations; to share the created products and the models of assessment to decrease expenses and effort; to capacitate technically the communities to maximize the participation, sustainability and coverage of the programs; to get involved in determining factors of the problems through the multisectorial participation, joining actions and politics of the government with the ones of communities and institutions.