Future perspectives: The political barriers and interventions
Throughout our main blog posts and additional posts, we have introduced the Double Burden of Malnutrition (DBM) in South America and highlighted several factors that play a part in this ongoing challenge. With this information and knowledge, the final step is to look to the future and figure out how this challenge will impact South America in the (near) future, what interventions can be considered and what barriers exist that may implicate addressing the DBM.
The overlooked political barriers
On the topic of nation-wide issues like malnutrition, all eyes are first and foremost on the various governments in South America. In our blog post on socioeconomic inequalities and malnutrition, the effects of Socioeconomic Status (SES) on the DBM were already highlighted. On the topic of SES, there is another important factor to mention, namely the political status of a country, or more specifically in the case of South America; the political unrest. The ongoing political unrest throughout various countries in South America, most extremely in Venezuela, form two major challenges in tackling the DBM. Firstly, various socioeconomic processes of these countries are slowed down or in cases of mass strikes, even put on hold, which further adds to the effects addressed in the aforementioned blog post. Secondly, with this general unrest, more specific issues like malnutrition are far from the most prioritized points for both the general public and politicians. It is therefore clear, with these challenges in mind, that the potential for interventions is largely dependent on private entities like supermarkets and restaurants, and the general public themselves.
Future perspectives and interventions
It is important to remember that the problem of malnutrition can come both in the form of undernutrition and overnutrition. As stressed by the WHO in a policy brief on the double burden of malnutrition from 2017, when tackling the issue, interventions have to be implemented for both forms. Similarly, the WHO has proposed a type of intervention that tackles both undernutrition and overnutrition simultaneously. This has been dubbed “the double-duty actions”.
As highlighted in our blogpost on cultural influences, the nutritional transition that South American countries have gone through can be considered as the biggest contributor to the ongoing double burden of malnutrition. This transition is a result of factors like urbanization and globalization, which are both expected to increase in the coming years. However, this process of cultural transitions does not have to be completely negative.
While South America is facing the effects of the initial transition, it is to be noted that a second transition, one which many North American and European cultures are currently going through, may also make its way to South America in the future. This current transition, most notably in the EU and the US emphasizes a more healthy lifestyle with a focus on biological foods and overall healthier nutritional options. However, an important note to make with this trend is that, at least currently, this lifestyle of consuming more biological foods is considered to be more for the wealthy. But while purely biological foods do not often come cheap, the vegan food industry has developed into a cheaper form of nutrition. As previously mentioned, with political barriers affecting the DBM in some South American countries, interventions have to mostly come from private entities like various retailers of food like supermarkets and restaurants and food chains. It is up to those parties to offer a variety of healthier options in their offerings and menus.
In the case of a more stable political situation where malnutrition can be prioritized more, it is important for governments to pressure food chains and supermarkets to offer a variety of healthier food options. On top of this, governments can also push for a change in the way healthy nutrition is being taught in schools and provided by schools via food programs as well. An intervention like food programs in schools can be considered as one of the clearest examples of a double-duty action, as it provides both healthy food options (tackling obesity/overnutrition) and opportunities for children to get a good meal (tackling undernutrition). In situations of food scarcity, governments can choose to give financial support to farmers living in the rural areas of South America, in order to boost food production.
With these interventions, undernutrition is being tackled in the form of food programs in schools and extra support for farmers. Overnutrition on the other hand is being tackled through educating the general public (especially children in school) on healthier lifestyles and food choices, and through persuading private entities to offer a larger variety of healthier food options.
