Programas de Intervención Alimentario Nutricional en America Latina y el Caribe entre 1970 y 1984

The main objective of this project was to establish an inventory of the food and nutrition programmes during the last 14 years in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Information was obtained from official documents, interviews, and meetings with programme directors.

Nearly all the countries of the region have carried out some kind of food intervention with the aim of improving the nutritional status of the vulnerable population. Of the 137 programmes identified, 126 were food supplementation programmes and 11 were subsidies.

The programmes with the highest cost per beneficiary were the on-site food consumption programmes implemented mainly through nutritional centres (US$ 3240 per beneficiary/yr); next came those in which food was distributed as part of primary health care (US$ 28.40 per beneficiary/ yr). In terms of benefit and excluding the nutritional value of food distributed, the school programmes were the least costly (US$ 8.3 per beneficiary/yr).

Funding was provided by governments with major external support, especially in Central American and Caribbean countries. Most programmes had no evaluation. Thus there is no way of determining the nutritional impact on the target population or the effectiveness of programmes. However, the coverage of most of these programmes was so limited that, even if effective, they would not represent a satisfactory solution to national food and nutrition problems

[Nutritional pathology in Latin America and the Caribbean]

The Latin American and Caribbean Region has different general characteristics as compared to other regions of the world. These peculiarities have determined certain food and nutritional problems which require specific programs and policies. Even though the universal coverage of basic needs is desirable, this is not the situation in the Region, and it is possible to identify integral vulnerable groups in every population. The study of problems related to food and nutrition requires a global and multidisciplinary approach considering ecological, economical, social and cultural factors affecting communities, especially marginal urban and rural populations. Nutritional diseases represent the last stages of the natural development of malnutrition, and although they are used as indicators of the nutritional situation, their magnitude always underestimate their real impact. It is in the large cities of Latin America that we can really understand the concept of malnutrition, which includes diseases related with both deficient and excessive food consumption. In fact, the development of sub-urban poor communities in large cities, short lactation period, low wages, low maternal schooling, soon lead to the development of under-nutrition in young urban populations. On the other hand, the interaction of urbanization, sedentary jobs, deficient food knowledge and excessive consumption of cheap foods, sometimes produces on the "survivors of under-nutrition" over-nutrition diseases, a problem which is acquiring more prevalence, especially in adults (obesity, diabetes and atherosclerosis). The real nutritional diseases in Latin America do not depend on the deficit or excess of a specific nutrient. The true causes are to be properly identified in order to state recommendations which benefit population groups, and not only reach academic purposes.

[Evaluation of a teaching program of nutrition in agronomy]

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a set of teaching materials on food, nutrition and agriculture, adapted at the Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology (INTA), University of Chile, within the scope of a project with AID and the School of Agronomy of the Chilean Catholic University (U. C.) aimed at incorporating the teaching of human nutrition into the curriculum of Latin American agronomists. A one semester course (54 hours) was given to 22 students of the 7th semester of Agronomy and two Ecuatorian agronomists (with AID scholarships). A set of knowledge evaluation instruments was applied at the beginning and at the end of the course. A total of 83.3% of the students passed the final examination (with more than 75% of correct answers). The difference between the initial and final performance was highly significant (p less than 0.001). According to the students' and teachers' opinions, the general textbook and the teachers book contributed effectively to meet the learning objectives whereas the students handbook needed some modifications. In conclusion, the program is an important contribution to the education of agronomists in a new conception of their role in regard to improvement of the nutritional status and quality of life of the rural population. With a few minor modifications, a final version to be used in the countries of the Region, shall soon become available.