A partnership to improve public health nutrition: Deakin Nutrition and Nutrition Australia.
October 10, 2019
In time for National Nutrition Week, we are delighted to announce a partnership between two leading public health nutrition bodies in Australia: Deakin’s School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences and Nutrition Australia Vic Division.
Having collaborated on many activities together in recent years, we are now formally partnering to enhance our respective contributions to the public health nutrition sector.
A shared vision
Nutrition Australia is a non-government, non-profit, member-based organisation whose vision is healthy eating for all Australians. It does this by supporting organisations state-wide to implement evidence based healthy eating policies and guidelines and to influence behaviour change.
The School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences at Deakin University has a focus on improving public health through world-leading nutrition research, and teaching and training of the future nutrition and dietetics workforce. The School comprises about 60 staff working within nutrition teaching, research and projects.
The shared vision of our organisations is to improve the health of all Australians through healthy eating, by working across sectors and levels which influence nutrition. Our current joint project is working with the National Nutrition Network – Early Childhood Education and Care (NNN-ECEC) investigating national alignment of menu planning guidelines for long day care services.
Future plans
Over coming years this partnership will involve
- Joint research projects and publications
- Fostering the intersection of evidence and translation
- Public health nutrition advocacy
- Activities related to a number of the eight recommendations put forward in A Healthier Start for Victorians, Consensus Statement on Obesity Prevention
- Student placements and projects
- Staff collaboration and professional development
Our partnership exemplifies a number of actions advocated in Nourishing Australia (A Decadal Plan for Nutrition Science), particularly by developing the nutrition workforce and nutrition leaders who work collaboratively.
Improving public health nutrition is recognised as a current international priority (UN Decade of Action on Nutrition), and healthy eating is a priority and focus area of the recently released Victorian Public Health and Wellbeing Plan 2019-2023.
Deakin Nutrition and Nutrition Australia look forward to working together and sharing our outcomes to contribute to this public health nutrition endeavour.
Happy upcoming National Nutrition Week!