A note on Nutrition related activities in India during 2006
and IUNS participation 

The mission of those working in nutritional sciences is to promote human health and quality of life through scholarly achievements and to mentor the continuing development of professionals not only in nutrition but also in food sciences and dietetics. Nutrition cuts across several disciplines and hence capacity building has to spread across the stakeholders and a range of related sectors. It is important to address capacity building in a systematic manner from community to policy makers through a multidimensional approach. Health and nutritional sciences are dynamic and directly impinge on public health issues of the country. Malnutrition is a serious health problem and affects social, economic and human development.  

Every country, particularly the developing countries need organizational, technical and scientific skills to address the existing and emerging challenges in nutrition.

An international symposium, two workshops and an annual meeting of Nutrition Society of India (NSI) and visits to National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) were arranged during the year 2006.The details of the  programs conducted are as follows:

I. International Training programmes conducted at CFTRI:

1. Enhancing Efficiency of Nutritional Investigations – (18-24 June 2006).  Course Directors: Dr.Nevin Scrimshaw, President, INF, USA and Senior Advisor, UNU.   And Dr. Gary Gleason

2.  Metrological concepts for strengthening Food and Nutritional Measurements - (18-24 June 2006).  Course Director: Dr. Ventatesh Iyenger, Adjunct Professor, Tufts University, USA.

II. International Symposium on “ Building Leadership Skills in Food and Nutrition Essential for National Development”, held at CFTRI, Mysore during 23-25 June 2006.

The meetings were held in Mysore, organized by the Central Food Technological research Institute under the leadership of its director Dr. V. Prakash under auspices of the United Nations University (UNU), Capacity Strengthening in Nutrition in Asia (CASNA), International Union of Nutritional Sciences (IUNS), International Nutrition Foundation (INF), Tufts University, and UNICEF with support of the Government of India. Leading National and international Nutritional experts participated. Drs. Uauy, Galal, Elmadfa and Krishnaswamy represented the IUNS.Leading food industries also were represented.

The stress of the symposium was on Human Resource Development, Policy advocacy, Institutional strengthening, Communication and Management to augment Research, Training, Out reach programs, Policy development and implementation, Everyone felt the need for a National effort to attract young scientists, promote their and developments through a multidisciplinary approach to meet the regional and national needs. The policy makers in each country must adopt national policies on evidence-based science, promote support and sustain individuals and institutes efforts necessary to address food and nutritional problems. Collaboration among the health, agriculture, education and technology sectors were emphasized. Community awareness and participation were also considered as important elements of success. The experts underscored the needs to enhance the knowledge, skills among the younger generation and deliberated on private-public partnerships for capacity enhancing programs, responsible marketing and development of healthy foods for healthy choices at minimal costs. The symposium was followed by a declaration that there will be concerted efforts to Reposition nutrition as central to national development and Increase the investments in nutrition at global, national and local level to address the double burden of malnutrition with a single agenda.

On the 4^th, 5^th and 6^th of November, NSI had its Annual meet in the All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health, Kolkota . Economists, Bureaucrats, Nutritionists, Diplomats, Industrialists, Journalists and Social reformers participated in the inaugural function and eight different symposia covering Nutrition and Development, Infant feeding and growth, Water environment and sanitation, Food safety, National rural health mission and Public-private partnerships and National and International collaborations to combat anemia. The President in her inaugural address stressed on Nutrition as a Human Rights Issue for human development and urged the nutrition community and other stakeholders to work together for sustainable development. Dr. Gopalan in his message stated that the society has become even more relevant to the national needs than ever before. He further stated that the bureaucratic approaches cannot solve the problems at hand and the society has to activate a peoples’ movement. The Dr. Gopalan oration award was delivered by Professor Dr. N. K. Bhan, Secretary, Government of India, Department of Biotechnology on “The central role of Nutrition in the development process”. Dr. K. Vijaya Raghavan delivered the Dr.Srikantia Memorial Lecture on Community Nutrition Research in India – Contributions, Constraints and Controversies. The meeting focused on critical problems of malnutrition and stressed on a coordinated approach encompassing all etiological factors including the social dimensions. Over 400 young Nutritionists, Dieticians, Home scientists and Food technologists had an opportunity to interact with their peers and gained knowledge on various pressing problems of malnutrition facing the country and plausible solutions.

Prof Ricardo Uauy and Dr. Osman Galal visited the National Institute of Nutrition on June 26^th, 2006. They were briefed about the Institute’s activities by the the various Heads of Departments and Group leaders. In their brief interactions with the scientists they expressed that India should have a greater representation in international bodies such as IUNS and their voices heard. They urged the scientists to take up challenging areas in Nutrition Science and come to the forefront in shaping International Policies.

Prof. Ricardo gave a lecture on “Nutrition Challenges for the XXI Century: The double burden of diseases” and Prof. Osman Galal gave a lecture on “Health as a reflection of economic development”.