Diario las Américas., 1958-02-05
Know thv
Nei9hbori
BY ONO RUIZ

VENEZUELA - Nutritional
problems related to school chill
dren are entrusted in Venezuela
to an autonomous agency, the Ma
tional Foundation for School
Lunch Rooms, which is a Deepen
dency of the Ministry of Health
and Social Welfare. This agency
maintains and %superviseS an *
panding network of student lunch
rooms throughout Venezuela. TIL
lunch-rooms have increased al
most three times since 1850, and
now serve more than $1,000 pu-
pills.
All schools for more than 400
pupils are required to include ia
cilities on the premises for lunch
rooms. Meals n served free Of
charge, and include all the ele-
ments of, a well balanced diet
Specially tbrained experts in home
economics and dieticians r in
charge of the l~unch-rooms.
An experiment undertaken in
Caracas during 1858, and continu-
ed ever since, was a campaign to
offer a glass of milk daily to every
child of school age. The expert
ment has been an outstanding sue
cess, and has been extended in
such a way, that more than 100,-
900 children in Caracas are now
receiving the benefits of it.
Wolker's nutrition is under the
direct supervision of the National
Institute of Nutrition. In more
than a hundred ~dining-roomS,
workers can get for only one boil
var go cents) a meal consisting
of soup, meat or fish, rice, potatoes
or beans, plaintains and veget-
ables, fruit, bread and coffee, Milk
is served at cost. A meal at one
of these dining-rooms represents
only 1-20 of the average nominal
salary of a laborer in Caracas.
More than half a dozen surveys
have been made by the National
Institute of Nutrition, placing en-
phaSis on field work. Four long
range projects were drawn up by
the Institute. They range all the
way from the simple or minimum
plan to a complex integral plan.
The minimum plan has been func-
tioning on a countrywide scale,
and is being carried-out by train
ed nurses at the public health
centers. Its two fundamental OBJ
jectives are to obtain data and to
educate. The intermediate plan,
the next step in the direction of a
full program, includes at least one
trained dietician in each public
health center. The third project,
following the two previous plans,
includes a fully equipped nutrition
al service with research facilities
in all A Sanitary Units, which are
the largest health centers in CT
ties of 10000 population or more.
In the most complex plan, all nu-
tritional services are coordinated
and integrated with a full compile.
ment of specialized doctors, train.
ed dieticians and public health spe-
cialists.
The authorities realized early
that nutritional programs could
not be undertaken successfully
without highly trained technic-
ians and subsequently, a School
for Dieticians was established. The
training of the dieticiaan takes
three years. Special postgraduate
courses for medical practitioners
who want to specialize in these
fields and direct their activities to
public health work, r held under
the auspicies of the National ms.
titute Of Nutrition. Public health
nurses regularly follow short cour-
ses in the field of nutrition.
A private organization, the Edu-
cationl Dietary Council, was set
up to spread knowledge regarding
nutrition problems and education.
The organization is sponsored by
the National Institute of Nutrition,
the Ministries of Education, Health
and Social Welfare, as well as the
American International Institute.
Spanish Version Page 3