Chapter 12 - Nutrition surveillance

Abstract

Nutrition surveillance includes assessment of physical size and growth (anthropometry), biological samples (e.g., saliva, blood, and urine), and dietary intake. The target group may be individuals, households, schools, communities, or even a nation. Nutrition surveillance serves many purposes: monitoring nutritional status or changes in the food supply, informing changes in policy, and identifying locations or individuals in need of resources. Central to all these functions is collection of timely, relevant, high-quality data and communication of results that lead to action. Common features unite nutrition surveillance; however, implementation can vary widely depending on context. In this chapter, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a national nutrition and health surveillance system in the United States, is described, as well as examples from five high-income countries—Canada, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and the United Kingdom—three middle- or low-income countries—Mexico, India, and Ethiopia—and two internationally supported household surveys—the Demographic and Health Survey and Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey