Idaho will observe Sept. 18-22 as Malnutrition Awareness Week, based on a University of Idaho nutrition researcher’s request to the state.

Yimin Chen, an assistant professor specializing in human milk research within the Margaret Ritchie School of Family and Consumer Sciences, applied for the special designation on behalf of the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN), which is devoted to advancing the science and practice of clinical nutrition and metabolism.

Malnutrition Awareness Week, which ASPEN established in 2012, is a multi-organizational effort to educate healthcare professionals about early detection and treatment of malnutrition, increase awareness about the importance of nutrition in patient recovery and educate consumers about the need to discuss their level of nutrition with healthcare professionals.

The designation is renewed annually, enabling the organization to keep the issue of malnutrition at the forefront of discussions among state lawmakers each year, potentially affecting how they vote on bills related to nutrition. Designations for 2023 were approved in 11 states, including Idaho, plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. Idaho also approved a Malnutrition Awareness Week in 2022.

Chen is a longtime ASPEN volunteer who has served on several of the organization’s committees and started its neonatal section. ASPEN wrote the proclamation Gov. Brad Little’s office recently adopted, which notes more than 2 million hospital stays annually result from malnutrition and that malnourished patients have triple the mortality rate compared with other hospitalized patients. The proclamation also emphasizes that screening, assessment, diagnoses and intervention are key to addressing the problem.

The Idaho Commission on Aging made a separate request for the state to adopt Malnutrition Awareness Week covering the same dates.