Graduate Program of the Bahiana is presented at a congress in the United States

The Postgraduate Program in Medicine and Human Health at Escola Bahiana de Medicina e Saúde Pública won international prominence, through the work "Assessment of an Intervention Project in School Meals on the Health of Children and Adolescents in the Sertão of Bahia", at Planetary Health 2019, held in September, at Stanford University (California), in the States United. The research is part of the “Sustainable School” program, developed in partnership with the Public Ministry of the State of Bahia and the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), and was selected, among about 150 initiatives around the world, to participate in the congress.

Master's students Renata Lago (pediatrician), Alexvon Gomes (biomedical and professor at EBMSP) and Paulo Victor Pinheiro (nutritionist), supervised by professor Ana Marice Ladeia, are responsible for the research of the Postgraduate Program in Medicine and Human Health, which aims to progressively and sustainably transform the school feeding of students studying in the municipalities of Serrinha, Barrocas, Teofilândia and Biritinga. The work has the objective of substituting foods of animal origin present in school lunches with foods of vegetable origin, based on the consumption of products from the local family farm.

During the event, the project was praised for its innovative character, with great social impact and sustainability for planetary health, as highlighted by the rector of Doane University, in Nebraska (USA), Jacque Carter. “I was very impressed with the research, above all, because there will be a good measure of the impacts of this initiative, not only in relation to children, who will have access to healthy food, but also in the environmental and economic aspects”, assesses the dean.

“Planetary Health is carried out by Harvard University, in partnership with Stanford University, and brings together several programs that promote human and planetary health”, describes the research representative at the congress, Dr. Letícia Baird, promoter of Serrinha and sponsor of the project .

Alexvon Gomes explains that the research consists of evaluating the anthropometric, clinical and laboratory impact of an intervention in the school lunch of students aged between 5 and 19 years, from 4 municipalities in the hinterland of Bahia. “One of the objectives of this intervention is to make the diet of these school-age youngsters rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and pulses, and, at the same time, reduce the consumption of foods of animal origin”, adds the professor at Bahiana.