This page contains affiliate links. This means if you a follow a link and make a purchase, at no additional cost to you, Humanitarian Careers will receive a commission. Thank you for supporting the site.

Humanitarian Nutrition Courses

Humanitarian nutrition projects are set-up to help people affected by food crises, poverty or humanitarian disasters. These online courses in humanitarian nutrition are from the leading institutions working to reduce malnutrition and death by hunger in humanitarian settings. The below web-trainings in humanitarian nutrition are aimed at those looking to enter the humanitarian sector in nutritionist roles, as well as current humanitarian workers wanting to gain a better understanding of humanitarian nutrition tools, methods and best practice.

Public Health in Humanitarian Crises – John Hopkins University

John Hopkins University has an online course in Public Health in Humanitarian Crises. The training has a module focused specifically on humanitarian nutrition. The fifth module of the course, ‘Nutrition in Humanitarian Crises’, has five lessons covering core topics related to humanitarian nutrition. The aim of the module is to position humanitarian nutrition within the wider context of public health during emergencies, and to allow students to explore the interdependencies between humanitarian nutrition and health in humanitarian crises.

The specific humanitarian nutrition module of the John Hopkins University online course on Public Health in Humanitarian Crises covers five key topics related to humanitarian nutrition. The first is an introduction to nutrition in humanitarian disasters and focuses on a broad overview. The second lesson is a case study in malnutrition. This explores identifying and treating malnutrition, as well as the wider contexts that result in malnutrition. By focusing on specific case studies, this lesson provides students with different examples and comparisons increasing their wider knowledge of humanitarian nutrition.

The fourth lesson in the humanitarian nutrition module of the John Hopkins University online training in Public Health in Humanitarian Crises covers the different types malnutrition that humanitarian nutritionists can encounter. Specific examples are given and students are trained on the correct identification of malnutrition cases. The final lesson in the humanitarian nutrition module of the John Hopkins University online training in Public Health in Humanitarian Crises focuses on the treatments and preventions that can be put in-place by humanitarian nutritionists assisting those affected by malnutrition.

The module on humanitarian nutrition in John Hopkins University online course in Public Health in Humanitarian Crises provides students with specific tools to run effect aid programmes addressing malnutrition. The course is aimed at beginners so not prior knowledge of humanitarian nutrition or public health is needed before taking the course. It is ideal an as introduction to humanitarian nutrition for those wanting to begin a career in the aid industry as a nutritionist, and also for current humanitarian workers who want to increase their understanding of the role nutrition and malnutrition plays in humanitarian crises.

Introduction to Nutrition – UNICEF

UNCIEF offers an online course as an introduction to nutrition. Designed by leading practitioners in humanitarian nutrition, the course aims to provide students the foundational principles of nutrition, as well as examples of how humanitarian nutrition can help save lives and reduce suffering. Available online for free through the Humanitarian Leadership Academy’s portal Kaya, the web-training focuses specifically on UNCIEF’s humanitarian nutrition projects and explains how these are rooted within the wider UN system.

The Introduction to Nutrition by UNICEF has a particular focus on how humanitarian nutrition projects from different NGOs and humanitarian organisations should work together. By collaborating, humanitarian nutrition projects can best utilise their resources, reach more people in need and save more lives. By coordinating nutrition programmes, humanitarian agencies can also better use their limited resources, making themselves more accountable and effective.  The Introduction to Nutrition web-training by UNICEF also focuses on the methods, challenges and successes of this coordination.

The UNICEF web-training an Introduction to Nutrition covers three core humanitarian nutrition topics. Firstly, the online course gives details on UNICEF’s own approach to setting-up and operating humanitarian nutrition programmes in zones of conflict and disaster, as well as in poverty reduction. The training then goes on to provide specific examples of UNICEF’s nutrition programming, introducing the tools and practices used to run effective humanitarian nutrition projects. Finally, the online course explains how external actors, including other NGOs, as well as local and international governments, armed groups and civil society can assist or prevent successful humanitarian nutrition interventions.

UNICEF’s online course an Introduction to Nutrition is suitable for anyone working in humanitarian aid, either in technical health or nutrition roles or in general roles such as management and coordination. The online course can also be taken by students with an interest in humanitarian nutrition. The course only takes around 30 minutes to complete and is studied in your own time, allowing participants to complete it at their own pace. The course is also free to take, making it an ideal introduction to those wanting to better understand the role of nutrition in humanitarian aid and UNICEF’s specific mandates and policies.