Innovative approaches in nutrition education in the Pacific region

It has often been said that ignorance is the most cause of malnutrition. However, in the Pacific Islands rapid modernization has confronted the people with the realization that their traditional way of life is no longer applicable and socially acceptable: this has led to the adoption of practices that are not fully understood or carried out properly (as is the case in bottle feeding). The nutrition education programme described in the paper attempts to halp individuals and communities become aware of the changes taking place and their consequences, and to provide them with the knowledge they need to seek solutions by themselves. To consolidate nutrition education in the various islands, training is undertaken by the Community Education Training Centre and in the territories through in-service courses. The level of training is highly practical and stresses skills and information useful for village people. Emphasis is on methods of motivating the community and techniques in nutrition education; the use of growth charts, cooking demonstrations, vegetable gardens and the proper use of audio-visual aids. One aim is to promote the consumption of coconut milk instead of soft drinks, while a major focus is the encouragement of breast feeding. Recipes are traditional ones modified for higher nutritive value, such as the addition of vegetables, perhaps taro leaves, or banana flower to a typical fish soup. In school, learning units have also been developed to promote appreciation of local food. Apart from the conventional educational techniques and materials, new aids are being utilised, especially games: nutrition bingo, gin rummy, menu planning games, the coconut climber's game, nutrition puzzles, etc. It is the author's experience that, to be effective, nutrition education programmes have to be an integral part of a national strategy aimed at combatting malnutrition. Isolated efforts may be better than none, but results remain marginal, if only because there is such a disparity between the problem and the response to it in the form of nutrition schemes.