ABSTRACT
Multiple forms of malnutrition (MOM) coexist in most nations, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). These forms of malnutrition include undernutrition, overweight, obesity, and multiple micronutrient deficiencies. Poor diets are now ranked as the leading risk factor for morbidity and mortality globally but especially in LMICs. Public health nutrition (PHN) is an area of public health that focuses on the application of food and nutrition knowledge, research, and policy to promote health and prevent disease for population groups. This encompasses local, state, national, and global levels, and includes the design, implementation, and evaluation of public health programs in nutrition. Commencing with the current global PHN scenario, this chapter goes on to describe the importance and need for health promotion approaches to be dovetailed in the nutrition sector. Some of these include mass awareness and capacity-building techniques, fiscal measures like taxation, strengthening programs and policies by improving intersectoral multidisciplinary engagement, and effective leadership. Traversing the spectrum from explaining their applications in nutrition programs and policy, the challenges/barriers in attaining this vision of PHN for the masses are also described. Using global case studies, the chapter is interspersed with the types and trends of policies and government initiatives in the PHN space, economic incentives, marketing limits, advertising, information provision, and environmental defaults. Nutrition strategies that could be potentially adopted for tackling MOM in the LMICs are summarized.
