Vanessa Lam
6 October 2016: Samoan health organisations now have access to important new nutritional resources and data they can use for advocacy thanks to a visiting group of nutrition students from the University of Canberra.
In a University first, 12 students recently travelled to the South Pacific island nation for a two-week placement as part of the International Nutrition unit.
The students developed a range of locally relevant nutritional resources for two health organisations. The group also collected nutritional data from Samoan supermarkets and undertook an audit of junk food advertising in the capital, Apia to support health promotion efforts in the country.
Unit convener Nerida Volker said the unit aimed to examine the nutritional challenges currently facing developing nations around the world.
“Samoa’s a really good example of the impact of nutrition transition on the health of communities that are rapidly westernising, which is the key theme we focused on in international nutrition,” Ms Volker said.
During the trip students had the chance to work with non-government organisations, including the Samoan Cancer Society, the National Kidney Foundation of Samoa and support the work of the Samoan Ministry of Health. The project has also involved collaboration with the Faculty of Arts and Design, with a graphic design student undertaking an internship with the project to help with the design of the nutrition materials.
Third year student Melissa Clarke said working with the numerous groups made it easy to see first-hand the issues that have been covered in the classroom.
“Our time in Samoa taught me a lot about the challenges countries that are still developing face in terms of over and under nutrition and how vital it is for people to be well informed about disease and how diet impacts this,” Ms Clarke said.
“I also got the opportunity to experience the class in a real life setting rather than just learning about the nutrition in these countries in a classroom.
“The trip gave me many experiences that I wouldn’t have received in any other setting and it’s also an excellent opportunity to experience placement as part of the undergraduate degree in an international setting,” she said.
Bachelor of Human Nutrition student Michael Wood said the trip helped him to develop valuable skills that he could put into practice in the work place.
“I felt like I learnt about a pathway in nutrition or dietetics that I could take after my studies,” the 21-year-old said.
“I learnt how to communicate with people from a different culture and I’d never really been exposed to that before.
“Even though in Australia we’re a multicultural society and we’re always meeting people of different cultures, it was different to actually be surrounded by one culture and having to learn how to communicate points affectively.”
The trip wasn’t without its challenges. Mr Wood said the warm climate, technical difficulties and the limited resources available kept the students on their toes.
“When we were trying to create our own resources, we had a lack of resources to use; all we really had were our laptops, books, pens and pencils,” Mr Wood said.
“If we didn’t have anything we’d have to go out and try to find it or make do with what we already had, which was challenging at times, but a great learning experience.”
Ms Volker said overseas placements like the June trip to Samoa added an extra dimension to the student learning experience – one not available within the confines of a classroom.
“There’s a lot we can teach and give them exposure to at the University, but what you learn from these international placements, particularly when you’re embedded and working with organisations, is quite amazing because it enables the students to rapidly get an understanding of what it’s like to work with other cultures,” she said.
The placement was supported by scholarships provided by the Australian Government via the New Colombo plan.
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