Economic and financial section > Problem of nutrition

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Nutrition Activities.
(a) Programmes in nutrition utilising the services of a well qualified
nutritionist on a full-time or part-time paid basis are conducted as
a part of a general health programme in a community. The type of
nutrition work developed depends upon the health and nutritional
needs of the community and Chapter funds.
(fe) Food and nutrition classes are offered as short-time low-cost
projects with an instructor authorised by national headquarters serving
on a volunteer or paid basis. The instructor must be a graduate from
an accredited school in home economics with satisfactory teaching
experience. These classes provide practical instruction on adequate
diets at minimum and moderate costs, the wise spending of food dollars,
meal planning and the proper methods of preparing foods.
Nutrition in the Service Programmes of Red Cross Chapters.
Assistance is given by the Nutrition Consultant to public health nurses
and home hygiene and care of the sick instructors, home service and
civilian home service secretaries on effective ways of applying nutrition
which will enable them to render a broader social and health service
to their families.
Local home economists in Red Cross Chapters are invited to serve
on such Chapter Committees as Nutrition, Disaster Preparedness, Home
Service, Civilian Home Service and Canteen in an effort to further
safeguard the health and nutrition of the families for whom the Chapter
has assumed responsibility.
Uruguay.
The services of the Ministry of Health which deal with the problem
of nutrition are the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics and the
National Commission for Rational Nutrition.
Department of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Created in 1934, this Department is responsible for the organisation
of rational nutrition throughout the ramifications of the Ministry’s
work, for establishing a national nutrition index based on data regarding
various groups, classes and communities.
In the current year, the Department has reorganised the dietaries
of the hospital services of the Public Health Department. In the first
place, it laid down health rules for staff handling foodstuffs, for meal¬
times and for the standardisation of diets so as to harmonise the dietetic
prescriptions with the practical resources of the kitchens and their
staff. The good results of this work have already been noted at the
Pasteur Hospital.