The West End News

Caribbean Nutrition Seminar Ends

PUERTO RICO - The First Caribbean Nutrition Seminar, which was jointly sponsored by the Caribbean Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the United Nations Children's Fund and the World Health Organization, ended last week after 10 days of discussion among 80 participants from Member Governments of the Caribbean Organization, the Bahamas, Bermuda, British Honduras, the British Virgin Islands, the United States of America, the University College of the West Indies, the University of Puerto Rico, and the organizations sponsoring the Seminar.

The Seminar noted that several studies in many countries had been made and that these provided disturbing evidence of continuing widespread malnutrition in the region and call for an early application of practical measures for nutritional improvement. In order to facilitate the formulation of such measures on a practical basis, the Seminar thought that it would be very useful to prepare a model Comprehensive Nutrition Programme suited to the needs of a community of 10,000 to 100,000 population. Of course, any model plan would have to be adapted to the conditions applicable in each community by the local authorities concerned.

Several suggestions and recommendations were made by Seminar, and in giving consideration, so as to facilitate their implementation, the Seminar recommended that a Standing Advisory Committee on Food and Nutrition should be established.

This Committee would be one of many to be established in various fields under the proposed Caribbean Plan for the economic, social and cultural development of the countries served by the Caribbean Organization. The Seminar felt that full advantage should be taken of the excellent opportunity that will be provided by the Caribbean Plan to further nutrition work in the region by integrating nutritional aspects thoroughly into the Plan from the very beginning.

In addition to the general task of dealing with the nutritional aspects of social and economic development in the region, priority considerations agreed to by the Seminar included a suggestion that a careful analysis should be made of the present food and nutrition situation in the region to indicate clearly the main nutritional problems which need to be solved on a priority basis. It was also recommended that in view of the clear need for increasing supplies of nutritious foods for raising the quality of the prevailing diets in the region, it was essential that all possible measures should be adopted to improve the production, distribution and consumption of such foods. These measures may include:

(a) provision of incentives to the farmers to raise their output such as supply of agricultural requisites and credit on convenient terms, guaranteed minimum prices and so on,

(b) development of better marketing facilities to bring the produce within the reach of the consumer such as adequate transport, proper storage, sound price policies.

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Caribbean Nutrition-Seminar

(c) education of the consumers in nutrition and home economics to promote the most efficient use of available supplies.

In her closing remarks at the end of the Seminar, the Chairman, Dr. Esther Seijo de Zayas Chardon of the University of Puerto Rico felt certain, "that there is going to be real action and positive measures coming to this Caribbean area on nutrition problems in the very immediate future."