| Title: |
Undernutrition and Food Security |
| Keywords: |
Vulnerable groups
Nutrition
Malnutrition
Humanitarian setting
|
| Country: |
Spain
|
| Institution: |
Spain - Barcelona Institute for Global Health - University of Barcelona
|
| Course coordinator: |
Victòria Fumadó
Jorge Salamanca
|
| Date start: |
2026-05-06 |
| Date end: |
2026-05-15 |
| About duration and dates: |
● 8 full days + 1 additional day for pre-readings made available 2 weeks prior to the course commencement ● Application deadline: 2 weeks prior to first presence course day |
| Classification: |
advanced optional
|
| Mode of delivery: |
Face to face
|
Course location:
Barcelona Institute for Global Health – University of Barcelona
School of Medicine and Health Sciences
Campus Clínic August Pi i Sunyer
Room: Aula Manuel Corachan
C/ Casanova, 143
08036 Barcelona |
|
| ECTS credit points: |
3 ECTS credits
|
SIT:
75 hours SIT
● Contact hours face-to-face: 32 h (including 2h exam + 2h group presentations in class)
● Self-study hours (reading and preparing for in-class exercises and evaluation activities): 43 h |
|
| Language: |
English
|
Description:
At the end of the course, students should be able to:
● Identify and appraise the major existing or emerging issues in undernutrition and food security that influence the health, survival, and development capacity of people living in low resources settings.
● Discuss the relationship between undernutrition and infectious diseases, and differentiate the main vulnerable groups (children under five, pregnant women, and HIV patients) who need a specific approach.
● Analyse and evaluate food security and nutritional status situations and interventions at local and global level.
● Illustrate interventions at rehabilitation centres, household, community, national, regional and global level, addressed to those in need for the reduction of food and nutritional insecurity.
● Contribute to the formulation of humanitarian response mechanisms to nutritional and food security crisis |
|
Assessment Procedures:
Attendance to 80% of face-to-face sessions is required to be assessed. The assessment will be both individually and group-based.
Learning objectives are assessed through a combination of class participation, a final test exam and a group case study (oral presentation and written summary) as follows:
● 25% Individual class participation
● 25% Final Test exam
● 50% Group work oral presentation and written summary paper (1500 words)
The final grade for the three components is compensatory and it is not necessary to pass them independently. The final grade is the result of the weighted average of the grade we assign to each of them. The student should participate in the 3 grading activities. The non-justified absence in one of them automatically invalidates the other 2.
1. Individual participation in class (25%): Students are expected to be proactive in the classroom, raising and answering questions, expressing opinions, giving examples, and engaging in debates.
Participation will be assessed as indicated in the grading rubric.
2. Final Test Exam (25%): Students are expected to pass a final test exam consisting of two parts: 10 single or multiple choice closed questions related to Undernutrition about the topics, concepts and elements discussed in class at the end of the first week; and another 10 single or multiple choice closed questions related to Food Security and WASH at the end of the second week .
Minimum of 5 correct answers in each exam to pass.
Final test exam will be assessed as indicated in the grading rubric.
3. Group work on a case study: oral presentation and written summary paper (1500 words, 50%):
At the beginning of the course, we will provide a case study to the students. The case study will be based on the food insecurity situation and a nutritional crisis in select countries. This case will be developed through group work along the course with tutoring support from course facilitators: time will be allocated in different sessions for students to be able to ask questions. The students should identify, assess and apply the necessary tools to address the specific food security and nutritional situation.
On the last day of class, students will finalize the case in groups and conduct an oral presentation of maximum 10 minutes, providing at the same time a written summary (no more than 1500 words).
The final grade for the group work is cumulative and is obtained through the weighted average of both assessments considering the criteria described in the grading rubric.
- 25% Oral presentation
- 25% Written summary (1500 words)
Students will receive oral feedback after group presentations and may request individual feedback on their exam performance
Resit: Students who do not achieve a passing mark of 5 over 10 on the course evaluation (for any reason, including failure to achieve the minimum grade or failure to attend an assessment due to illness or other emergency) are offered the opportunity to complete a resit on a date to be agreed with the affected students.
The resit will consist of an individual practical case, different from the one previously developed in group work, designed to assess the student’s overall understanding of the course content. Students will be required to carry out nutritional calculations, analyse the scenario presented, and propose appropriate food security interventions. The assessment will also include short theoretical questions, which may take the form of multiple-choice items and will be directly linked to both the practical case and the key concepts covered during the course. |
|
Content:
S1 – Introduction to the course and overview. Review the concepts of malnutrition, definition and types, hidden malnutrition, and overview situation:
● Analysis of the malnutrition tree, nutritional problems throughout the life cycle and the causal framework of malnutrition causes.
● Undernutrition in the world, evolution, main trends and current situation. Achievement of SDGs and 2030 Agenda related to malnutrition.
S2 – Micronutrients and vitamins deficiency:
● Effects of micronutrients deficiency and vitamins
● Development of strategies at community level
S34 – Undernutrition and infection/and vulnerable groups:
● Relation between infection and nutritional status.
● How to develop a good intervention with useful tools and elaborate action points.
● Diarrhoea
● HIV and nutrition
● Reproductive health and nutrition
● Breast feeding
S5 – Rapid Nutrition assessment:
● What is a Nutrition Rapid Assessment and how to conduct them
● The stage of food security to support the Intervention criteria
S6 – Nutrition Strategies (part I):
● Different types of preventive nutrition strategies
● Strategies in adequacy with the context
● Advantages and constraints of each program
● Different nutrition products and how to calculate a ration (NutVal)
S7 – Nutrition Strategies (part II):
● Diagnoses and types of malnutrition
● Different types of therapeutic nutritional strategies (Community-Based Management Acute Undernutrition-CMAM)
● Election of program depending on the type of malnutrition
S8 – Evolution of programming:
● New nutrition strategies in emergencies
● Includes: Test Exam Part I. Undernutrition
S9 – Food Security and Nutrition:
● The concept of Food Security (previous reading needed): From food availability to the right to food
1. Measuring and analysing food security or insecurity
2. Food Security key documents (SOFI, VAM – WFP)
3. Analysing some Proxy indicators: Coping mechanism
4. A quick view of the food security situation: The state of Food Insecurity in the World 2025:
5. Main trends, causes and consequences
6. Agenda Post 2015
(https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2025/The-Sustainable-Development-Goals-Report-2025.pdf)
S10 – Typology of Food Crisis:
● Typology of Food Crisis
● Types of food insecurity
● Early warning systems,
● IPC as a key agreement on triggers
S11 – Needs assessment:
● Dimensions to be analysed
● Deciding the interventions
● Household Economy Approach (HEA)
S12 – Food Security Response (I):
● Responses to Food Crisis:
● Road Map to Response Analysis
● Assessing the needs
● Dimensions to be analysed
S13 – Food Security Response (II):
● Cash Initiatives.
● Minimum Standards (Sphere Project)
● Food Distribution
S14 – WASH and food security related to nutrition:
● WASH Key elements vs Malnutrition
● Includes Test Exam Part II. Food Security and WASH |
|
Methods:
Sessions will combine lectures, practical exercises and field examples through case studies as well as discussions on pre-reading material. During sessions in class, the facilitators will stimulate active students’ participation and use practical examples from the field to students in the real context. All learning activities are oriented to give the students technical skills to be applied working on a real case study along the course. |
|
Prerequisites:
Knowledge or experience on the humanitarian context and global coordination mechanisms will be useful. Some clinical basic knowledge or background will help to better understand the undernutrition casual framework and clinical definitions.
tropEd candidates must provide an English language level TOEFL test 550 or 213 computer-based or 79/80 internet-based or IELTS band 6.0 or equivalent. |
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Attendance:
Minimum of 10 students. Maximum of 35 students. No limitations for tropEd students.
We will confirm if the course takes place at least 4 weeks in advance. |
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Selection:
For tropEd students: First come, first served principle. |
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Fees:
630 Euro + University taxes (approx. 90 Euro) |
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Scholarships:
Not available |
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Major changes since initial accreditation:
No major changes since last accreditation, only that now the course places greater importance on armed conflicts in relation to food insecurity and malnutrition. Armed conflicts are more crucial now than in previous years for driving food insecurity and child malnutrition due to:
● Conflict escalation
● Rising acute hunger
● Child malnutrition stuck at high levels
● More children exposed to war |
|
Student evaluation:
This course has been consistently highly scored by students in the anonymous feedback: last academic year score was 4.6 out of 5. They highly valued the content, the methodology and the assessment methods. |
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Lessons learned:
The students greatly appreciate the updates and practical exercises. |
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tropEd accreditation:
Accredited in Yogyakarta in February 2016. Re-Accredited in March 2021. Re-Accredited in Jan 2026 Online GA. This accreditation is valid until Jan. 2031 |
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| Email Address: |
nuria.casamitjana@isglobal.org |
| Date Of Record Creation: |
2016-03-13 18:45:17 (W3C-DTF) |
| Date Of Record Release: |
2016-03-13 22:47:49 (W3C-DTF) |
| Date Record Checked: |
2021-03-18 (W3C-DTF) |
| Date Last Modified: |
2026-02-27 12:05:16 (W3C-DTF) |
