The main speakers at the international meeting were Dr. José María Gil Roig, professor at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, director of the Center for Research in Agri-food Economics and Development (CREDA-UPC-IRTA), and the academic from the Department of Nutrition and Health Public of the Faculty of Health and Food Sciences of the Bío-Bío University, Dr. Jacqueline Araneda Flores. The activity was convened by the GORE of Ñuble and the University of Bío-Bío through the research group “Economy, agri-food management and population health”.
The rector Dr. Benito Umaña Hermosilla valued the space for reflection and analysis generated in the “First International Seminar of the Health Pole: Agri-food management and population health: A challenge for the new region of Ñuble”.
Likewise, he specified that the Health Pole was born with the firm intention of becoming a national reference center for training, scientific and technological development in health through innovative forms of management that articulate the public, private and scientific spheres, to respond to the growing requirements of the community and public health policies.
“The international seminar is part of this great project that the rectory has embraced with great force, an emblematic and very important project for the University and for the Ñuble Region. Today we are talking about the issue of health, but also about the agri-food field because it is directly linked to people’s health and with problems that are very prevalent today, such as obesity or malnutrition due to excess ”, he illustrated.
Food and health
On the occasion, Dr. José María Gil Roig presented the conference called “Sustainable consumption: Fiscal policy and behavior of households.” “I have focused a lot on the issue of obesity, which is a very relevant issue in Chile. Regardless of the fact that measures were taken to control obesity around 20 years ago, the levels continue to rise. Many times we do not know the behavior of families and individuals, and what we do is contribute to a better understanding of this behavior so that the measures adopted by governments are much more effective”, he stated.
In turn, Dr. Jacqueline Araneda Flores presented the paper called “Healthy and sustainable food environments.” “The main theme of the exhibition corresponds to food environments, so that people can distinguish the environments that surround us. Certainly, there are food environments that are more detrimental to people’s health. Some time ago we were awarded a FONIS project whose purpose was to evaluate exposure to unhealthy food environments and diet quality in obese and eutrophic schoolchildren in the Ñuble Region”.
The academic recalled that the 2016-2017 National Health Survey showed that 74% of the population over 15 years of age has malnutrition due to excess. In the same way, JUNAEB studies show that the prevalence of obesity has remained in proportions that reach 25%.
A regional commitment
The regional administrator of the GORE of Ñuble, Alicia Contreras Vielma, pointed out that the Health Center is a great opportunity for young people and families in the region. “The Health Pole opens the doors to students who see a tremendous opportunity, not only for having a Medicine degree, but also to work on different problems that affect regional communities. Today’s seminar shows us that it is necessary to involve the productive sectors to generate healthy food because this directly affects other health problems such as obesity, which particularly affects boys and girls”, she warned.
Investigation Development
Meanwhile, the Department of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation Dra. Sofía Valenzuela, pointed out that along with training professionals in the areas of science and health, the pole will contribute to the development of research, also in the agri-food field. “The quality and type of food we eat affects our health. For us, from the Ministry of Science, as our President Gabriel Boric has said, we want to be an ecological government and therefore we must seek much more sustainable processes in the production of different products and among them those of the agri-food sector. It is very necessary to investigate to generate healthier foods and whose production is more sustainable, ”she commented.
A pole with projection
In turn, the director(s) of the Ñuble Health Service, Elizabeth Abarca Triviño, highlighted the desire of the UBB and the GORE to establish a national pole of health development in Ñuble, due to the benefits that it will imply for the community.
“We highlight the important collaborative work and concern of the Regional Government and the University of Bío-Bío, with whom we are advancing in different initiatives for the benefit of the families of Ñuble. For this reason, we value that from next year the Chemistry and Pharmacy degree will be taught in Chillán, as well as the progress to have a Medicine degree for the first time in the region, which will allow the training of professionals who know the reality local, making it easier to reduce the gap to have more physicians from the area in our territory”, he emphasized.
On the occasion, the academics of the research group “Economy, agri-food management and population health” Dr. Rodrigo Romo Muñoz and Dra. Carolina Leyton Pavez, valued the participation of the exhibitors, as well as the commitment of the university authorities and the region de Ñuble, who highlighted the need to articulate the work between the different actors in the territory for the generation of healthy and sustainable food with a view to safeguarding people’s health.
