For students interested in global health, nutrition, health equity or the economics of food, there is a lot to learn in World Hunger and Malnutrition. The UW–Madison class, which is offered as an online, asynchronous course during the summer term, is an opportunity for students to explore the biology of nutrition as well as the socio-economic factors that affect food consumption.
“The class provides students with a broad understanding of malnutrition throughout the world,” says agricultural and applied economics professor emeritus Ian Coxhead, who teaches the economics-focused portion of the course. The class is cross-listed as Agricultural and Applied Economics/Agronomy/Nutritional Sciences 350.
Erika Anna, teaching faculty in nutritional sciences, serves as the other course instructor and focuses on the biology section. Together the two themes provide a comprehensive picture of nutrition and hunger that helps students see connections between food security and world events that may not be directly related to food markets.
“I learned not only about the biology in this course, but also how climate change, war, policies and pandemics can affect food, especially in developing countries,” says Isabelle Fuerst, a sophomore majoring in nutritional sciences with a certificate in global health, who was one of around 80 students who took the class last summer.