Country Level Action to Improve Nutrition and Health: A view from the Field

Dr. Jorge Jimenez presents the case of Chile as an example of how to improve childhood nutrition and health, from a social pediatrics point of view. Jimenez walks back through time to the early 1900s. Here, he outlines the key interventions that improved child health and reduced the burden of infant mortality. From the first Gout de Lait program in 1902, Jimenez describes the link between optimization of the milk supply and the evolution of public health policies, placing emphasis on the integration of health, the environment and the human life cycle. The Chilean story illustrates the effective translation of academic knowledge to public policies that gained increasing momentum and resulted in lasting health benefits for the population. By placing an equal emphasis on prevention and cure, Chile provides a valuable vantage point from which we can target all the phases of child survival.