UN University world hunger programme associated institutions

A brief description of the institutions, and the facilities provided as an associated institution of the University, is presented in the following paragraphs.

Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology (INTA)

Address: University of Chile
Casilla 15138
Santiago 11, Chile
Director: Dr. Fernando Monckeberg
Resident Co-ordinator: Dr. Ricardo Uauy

Established in 1950 as the Laboratories for Pediatric Research, its initial work was on the consequences of child malnutrition and the preventive measures to be taken. Progressively, research became multidisciplinary and integrated to include studies on national nutrition problems within their ecological setting. In 1972, the Laboratories emerged as a separate department within the university, and since 1976 it is recognized as the Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology (INTA), and the work is in multidisciplinary units.

A teaching programme, leading to a Master's Degree in Nutrition Planning, was instituted in 1975. INTA has played a major advisory role in the development of an integrated national nutrition policy currently directed by the National Council for Food and Nutrition (CONPAN), and in the nutrition-related policies of the National Health Service.

Research projects undertaken

The basic and applied research projects undertaken at INTA fall within the two priority areas of the World Hunger Programme-nutritional requirements and their fulfillment in practice (sub-programme D; and the nutrition and food objectives in national planning and development (sub-programm Ill). The applied research projects are in the following fields.

1. Prevention of iron deficiency in infancy, using a new, acidified iron-fortified milk formula developed at INTA. This would help to prevent iron-deficiency anaemia, known to be highly prevalent among infants.

2. Determination of the ability of a Chilean mixed diet to meet the protein requirements of low-income adults under their normal living conditions, using the World Hunger Programme standardized protocol.

3. Encouragement of breast-feeding in marginal urban communities. An educational-motivational programme will be tried in an effort to reverse previously described trends of decreased breast-feeding in the developing countries.

4. Environmental sanitation as a tool for nutritional intervention. The project will evaluate cost effectiveness of education, education plus sanitation, and sanitation alone, compared with a control group, and will measure specifically the incidence of diarrhea! disease and of bacterial contamination of milk in bottle-fed infants.

5. Study of the purchasing power of low-income urban families and its effects on food consumption, exploring economic indices predictive of groups running the highest nutritional risks within the country.

The agreement between the Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology and the United Nations University became effective on 1 October 1977 for an initial period of one year.

Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRl)

Address: Mysore 570013 India
Telephone: 20200
Cable: FOODSEARCH MYSORE
Telex: 0846-241 FTRI IN.
Director: Dr. Bance L. Amla
Resident Co-ordinator: Dr. Bance L. Amla

The Institute was established by the Government of India in 1949 as one of a chain of research and development institutions under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. It is also the site of the International Training Centre for Food Technology for students from South and Southeast Asia and other countries, jointly founded by the Government of India and the FAO. The research programmes of the Institute have been designed to meet the specific needs of a developing country with varied agro-climatic conditions, and for application of the programmes in the rural and semi-urban conditions of developing countries with large rural populations and with seasonal surpluses of agricultural produce. The Institute also has facilities for extending its expert services to help integrate the application of know-how, both in rural and urban areas.

Facilities provided as associated institution

The research Fellows are offered facilities for investigation in collaboration with, and/or under the supervision of, faculty members in the following areas: storage, infestation control and pesticides; milling and processing of cereals, millets, pulses, and tubers; fruit and vegetable technology; process development and fermentation technology; technology of vegetable proteins; food packaging; meat, fish, and poultry technology; and flour milling and baking technology.

The other important areas with facilities for applied research are: microbiology and sanitation; biochemistry; applied nutrition technology; lipid technology and consultancy; extension and market research.

The agreement between the Central Food Technological Research Institute and the United Nations University became effective on 1 November 1976 for an initial period of five years.

The Nutrition Center of the Philippines (NCP)

Address: Nutrition Center of the Philippines Bldg.
South Super Highway, Nichols Interchange Makati, Metro Manila 3116, Philippines
Telephone: 85 30-71 to 79
Cable: NUTRICEN MANILA
Director: Dr. Florentino Solon
UNU Resident Co-ordinator: Dr. Rodolfo Florentino

To combat malnutrition in the Philippines, two new organizations were established in 1974. One was the National Nutrition Council (NNC), with responsibility for co ordinating all nutrition programmes in the country and preparing a national programme end the other was the Nutrition Center of the Philippines (NCP), to provide appropriate technical support for the National Nutrition Programme. In 1977, the NCP extended assistance to the National Nutrition Programme by organizing relevant nutrition education and food assistance activities. The Center has continued its work on development of tools, materials, and food formulations for use in the National Nutrition Programme; on training of nutrition workers from the private sector; on provision of documentation and library services; and of supporting an early childhood development programme.

Facilities provided as associated institution

The NCP-UNU Center is entrusted with the conduct of an Advanced Training Programme on Food and Nutrition Planning and Implementation for National Development for foreign and local nutrition workers, oriented largely towards the health sector.

The programme consists of three phases. The brief first phase consists of academic sessions on Principles of Nutrition, Community Nutrition and Planning, and Implementation and Evaluation of Food and Nutrition Programmes. These are supplemented in the second phase by actual observation and analysis of existing nutrition programmes and other nutrition-related activities at the national, regional, provincial, and municipal levels. The last phase of the training programme consists of a barangay (village) practicum, which will allow the Fellows to gain firsthand experience in the application of the knowledge gained during the first two phases, as well as to conduct applied, operational, mission-oriented, short-term research at the barangay level.

The agreement between the Nutrition Center of the Philippines and the United Nations University began on 1 September 1976, and was renewed on 1 September 1978 for a period of two years.

Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP)

Address: Carretera Roosevelt Zona 11
Guatemala
Central America
Telephone: 43762
Cable: INCAP GUATEMALA
Director: Dr. Carlos Tejada
UNU Resident Co-ordinator: Dr. Guillermo Arroyave

The Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama is a technical regional organization created in Guatemala City in 1946 through an agreement signed by representatives of the Governments of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama, and of the Pan-American Sanitary Bureau (PASB), Regional Office of the World Health Organization. Its mission is to study the nutrition problems of the region, to seek means for their solution, and to assist the member countries in the effective application of those solutions. It has an active educational programme in conjunction with the University of San Carlos de Guatemala.

Facilities provided as associated institution

In the World Hunger Programme, INCAP offers advanced training at a Master or Doctorate degree level or equivalent to professionals who have completed their university studies. This training is provided through academic and research activities in areas related to the nutrition and food problems of the world.

The duration of the training is ordinarily one academic year, but shorter periods may be considered, provided that the completion of the basic objectives of the training are insured. Under special circumstances, periods longer than one year may be considered.

Facilities for study in the following areas are currently available: food composition, food technology, nutritional biochemistry, animal nutrition, analysis and quality control of foods, physiological and clinical aspects of nutrition, metabolism and nutritional requirements, control of hypovitaminosis A, nutrition and productivity, nutrition and digestive function, nutrition and infection, rural development, population and demography, human development, national food and nutrition policies, public health nutrition, epidemiological surveillance of nutrition, and diet and recommended allowances.

The agreement between the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama, and the United Nations University became effective on 1 July 1976 and was renewed on 1 January 1978 for a period of three years.

Tropical Products Institute (TPI)

Address: 127 Clerkenwell Road
London EC1 R 5DB, England
Telephone: 01 -405 7943
Director: Dr. Philip C. Spensley
UNU Resident Co-ordinator: Dr. E.M. Thain

The Institute is a British Government organization forming part of the Ministry of Overseas Development. Its function is to co-operate with developing countries in maximizing benefits from their plant and animal products.

It specializes in the various scientific, technological, and economic problems that arise subsequent to harvest, which include processing, preservation, storage, transport, quality control, marketing, and utilization of wastes and by-products. The technology and economics of industries based on plant and animal products ("agro-industries") are of particular interest.

Facilities provided as associated institution

The Institute offers United Nations University Fellows facilities to train in the practical aspects of research on food conservation. Preference would be given to requests to work in areas where TPI has general knowledge and experience, and that it considers should be developed further.

The list below is not definitive, but serves to provide examples of the areas offering opportunities for research. In addition, the Institute's programme is not static: it changes to meet the changing needs of developing countries . Consideration would, therefore, be willingly given to any proposal for applied research topics that fall generally within the field of fruits and vegetables; processing and technology of cereals and dried pulses; pest control; and general processing of food.

The agreement between the Tropical Products Institute and the United Nations University became effective on 1 December 1977 for an initial period of three years.

Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Research (IVIC)

Address: Apartado 1827, Caracas Venezuela
Telephone: 69 19 41
Cable: IVICSAS
Director: Dr. Luis Carbonell
Resident Co-ordinator: Dr. Miguel Layrisse

The "Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientificas" (IVIC: Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Research), was established in 1959 by the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Venezuela for planning, co-ordinating, and conducting research in the physical, chemical, and health sciences. It is the largest research institution in the country, and has over sixty research laboratories engaged in work in the fields of biophysics and biochemistry, micro-biology and cellular biology, ecology, experimental medicine, anthropology, hydrocarbons and chemistry, physics, engineering and computers, and mathematics.

Among them, the Pathophysiology Laboratory in the Experimental Medicine Department has been conducting, for the last several years, studies on various aspects of iron metabolism and iron-deficiency anaemia, both in experimental animals and in humans. The laboratory has been internationally recognized as a centre for research on anaemia. Among the various studies currently being undertaken are investigations on iron intake, absorption, and availability of iron from iron-fortified traditional foods.

It also serves as a centre for advanced training for graduate students.

Research project undertaken

The UNU association has helped to initiate a small network conducting applied research relevant to the problem of human iron deficiency and its prevention in the region.

The research programme will ascertain, with precision, the amount of iron absorbed from the most common Latin American diets, and the amount of iron, as fortified iron, that is necessary to be incorporated into the regular diet in order to meet the physiological iron requirement.

The work will be carried out in close collaboration with two other institutions in Latin America-the Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology (INTA), and the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP) both of which are associated institutions of the UNU.

The agreement between the Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Research and the United Nations University became effective on 1 January 1978 for an initial period of two years.

The International Food & Nutrition Policy Planning Programme (IFNP)

Address: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 USA
Telephone: 1617) 253-7617
Cable: MITUNATUNIV CAMBRIDGE
Telex: 92-1473
Provost: Dr. Walter A. Rosenblith
Resident Co-ordinator: Dr. Barbara Underwood

IFNP was founded in 1973 as a joint undertaking of the MIT Department of Nutrition and Food Science and the MIT Center for International Studies. The Department has long enjoyed a high international reputation for its training and research activities in nutrition and food science and other areas of applied biology as they affected developing countries. The Center has been widely acclaimed for its studies of international economic and political development for work on public-policy issues.

These interests naturally combined in IFNP-a multidisciplinary programme bringing to bear economic, political science, and nutrition expertise on the problems of planning nutrition programmes in developing countries. In addition, the IFNP programme utilizes the expertise and facilities available at Harvard University and other appropriate academic resources in the northeastern United States of America.

The multidisciplinary research and training, with orientation to world nutrition problems, includes workshop discussions and field studies. The programme involves a wide variety of disciplines in its teaching and research programmes, including nutrition and food sciences, economics, political science, urban studies, public health, demography, anthropology, management, and systems analysis. The multidisciplinary approach helps to define the policy and programming opportunities, and to select the most effective strategy for interventions and for evaluation.

Facilities provided as associated institution

The programme would offer to the UNU Fellows-who would be involved substantially in the planning, implementation or evaluation of activities designed to combat malnutrition in low-income countries-a specifically designed course of study, including seminars and workshops, and research tailored to the background and experience and to the position he or she anticipates pursuing upon completion of the programme.

The programme for each Fellow would last one year, with an option for continued training for a smaller number of Fellows in special circumstances. The training programme will assist the Fellow to enlarge his competence to use the social, economic, political, administrative, and public health tools necessary to achieve improved national nutrition status.

The agreement between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Harvard School of Public Health, and the United Nations University became effective on 1 February 1978 for an initial period of three years.

Centre for Research in Nutrition, Laval University (CRN)

Address: Quebec G1K 7P4 Canada
Telephone: (418) 656-2439
Cable: AGRAL-2BC-UL CANADA
Telex: 0513099
Director: Dr. Germain J. Brisson
UNU Resident Co-ordinator: Dr. J. C. Dillon

Laval University demonstrated its interest in problems related to nutrition by founding the CRN in 1968. An important characteristic of the CRN is its multidisciplinary approach to nutrition. It has a permanent research team made up of professionals from various disciplines, and it also actively collaborates with the other departments of the university. The following seven permanent research teams have been established to pursue the applied research programme: food technology; nutrient recycling; toxicology; animal nutrition; nutrition and public health; clinical nutrition, and international nutrition and nutrition planning.

Laval University has already distinguished itself as a leading institution in training and research on food and nutrition in the French-speaking world, especially Africa. Currently, this consists of training and education programmes on the university campus for French-speaking scientists from Africa, Haiti, and Vietnam; overseas co-operative training and education programmes with exchange of staff and institutional backup for on-site facilities such as the University of Agriculture in Meknes, Morocco, and the University of Haiti; research projects in French-speaking countries such as Haiti and Senegal; and participation in the Canadian International Development and Research Programmes with special educational programmes, leading to Masters and Ph.D. degrees in Food and Nutrition, for Frenchspeaking nationals. The academic studies are carried out at Laval University with research projects pursued in the student's own country.

Facilities provided as associated institution

In the World Hunger Programme, the CRN will offer to professionals from French-speaking countries advanced training in the WHP sub-programmes II and III-Post-harvest Conservation of Food, and Food and Nutrition Objectives in National Planning and Development. Facilities for applied research in food conservation exist in the fields of processing and storage of food; fermentation; quality control and development of new foods from plant and animal sources; protein extraction and texturization; and technology of milk and milk products. The other subject areas are: safety of foods, and management of non-conventional food chains, particularly agricultural-waste management.

The Centre has a long-established interest in international nutrition planning. It has already been involved in planning food-aid programmes in developing countries such as Haiti, as well as in formulating nutrition policies at the national and international levels. To conduct these activities, the Centre not only depends on its own resources, but also has access to the university facilities and personnel, and may call upon experts outside the campus.

In the immediate future, the CRN will develop, in addition, a research programme with the Institut de Technologie Alimentaire (ITA), Dakar, Senegal, in the area of post-harvest conservation of food.

The agreement between the Centre for Research in Nutrition and the United Nations University became effective on 1 June 1978 for an initial period of three years.