Capacity strengthening for clinical nutrition in Zambia: a roadmap for success in tackling undernutrition

Aongola, Agnes and Ngoma, Thelma and Carter, Chris and Notter, Joy (2024) Capacity strengthening for clinical nutrition in Zambia: a roadmap for success in tackling undernutrition. British Journal of Nursing, 33 (8). ISSN 0966-0461

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Abstract

Clinical nutrition is a complex science which constantly changes in response to the changing burden on disease and new evidence (Gallegos, 2020). An issue often ‘hidden in plain sight’ is that patients in hospital are at risk of under nutrition, and unless proactive nutrition assessments, such as the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) and interventions are made, this un-noticed problem will continue to be associated with increased complication, infections, longer length of stay, higher costs (both at micro and macro levels), and higher mortality (Blaauw et al., 2019. Stratton, 2023). For individuals and families in low-income countries (LIC), this is further compounded by chronic poverty and food insecurity. As the World Food Programme (2024) pointed out, an estimated 333 million people in 2023, experienced acute levels of food insecurity, with individuals not knowing where their next meal is coming from. In consequence, individuals admitted to hospital may already be under nourished and from the limited literature available in sub-Saharan Africa, Miyoba et al (2018) identified that over 60% of adult inpatients in Zambia were at nutritional risk.

Item Type:	Article
Identification Number:	10.12968/bjon.2024.33.8.S8
Dates:	Date Event 2 March 2024 Accepted 19 April 2024 Published Online
Subjects:	CAH02 - subjects allied to medicine > CAH02-04 - nursing and midwifery > CAH02-04-02 - adult nursing
Divisions:	Faculty of Health, Education and Life Sciences > College of Nursing and Midwifery
Depositing User:	Chris Carter
Date Deposited:	08 May 2024 13:25
Last Modified:	19 Oct 2024 03:00
URI:	https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/15402

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