Many Diseases can be cured through Nutrition and Dieting

  -  Nkwain Joseph, Director, Florence Nightingale Higher Institute of Health and Biomedical Sciences

Nutrition and Dietetics is a segment in Health Related studies that is yet to fully catch the attention of the public especially in the Northwest and Southwest Regions of the country. This reporter caught up with Mr Nkwain Joseph, an Educationist in the Health Sector. Mr Nkwain Joseph runs an Institution which presently offers Nutrition and Dietetics at the HND level up to the Bachelor Degrees. We caught up with him with an intention of getting his expert opinion on Nutrition and Dietetics. He was interviewed by Francis Ekongang Nzante. He begins by stating unequivocally that Nutrition and Dietetics constitute a very important segment of Health and Biomedical Sciences.

"Nutrition and Dietetics is a very important course. We started it some years back but very few number of students have been showing interest in it. I want to believe there’s the need for the public to be fully informed about the importance of Nutrition and Dietetics. People who graduate from this department have a wide range of possibilities infront of them. They can obviously work in hospitals and Clinics as far as Nutritional Advice and treatment is concerned. Nowadays we have very many patients that require only nutrition as treatment. We take for instance, Diabetes Militus, Hypertension, Kidney Diseases among many others. All these diseases need only diet and nutrition. These people will also be able to plan patients' diets and give Nutritional Advice. They will also be able to work in Nutrition Centers, in Breweries and Food Processing Industries, in Milk Processing Industries as well as in International NGOs and in the United Nations Organization. It’s importance in the health sector cannot be over emphasised."

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How qualified is one supposed to be to get registered in the department of Health and Dietetics

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The Entry Level Qualification is actually the GCE A Levels from a Technical School or in the Sciences. The minimum requirements specifically speaking are two A Level papers excluding Religion or Baccalaureate A,B,C or D or it’s equivalent. Those from Technical Schools should also have the GCE Technical as an entry requirement. It’s a three year course that ends up with an HND. From there they can go up to Bachelors and then to Masters. 

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In very simple language for the lay person, can you in a brief message draw attention to the importance of Nutrition and Dietetics?

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This area is extremely important because many people are suffering from Diseases that can be treated only by Nutrition and Dietetics. I just cited Diabetes Militus,  hypertension, Kidney Diseases and even Gastritis. People with Gastritis are not supposed to eat certain types of foods. All of this falls under Nutrition and Dietetics. Most of the people in the Northwest and Southwest Regions of Cameroon concentrate much more on Catering. Catering is there but it’s not Nutrition and Dietetics. They are very important. They are there in the Western world so why can’t we have them here as well. Admissions it should be noted are currently going on at the Florence Nightingale Higher Institute of Health and Biomedical Sciences in Bamenda.

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