Nutrition problems of rice-eating countries in Asia / Nutrition Committee of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Date:
1948
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Nutrition problems of rice-eating countries in Asia / Nutrition Committee of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    19/32 page 13
    Hl. THE FEEDING OF VULNERABLE GROUPS Large numbers of the poorer class children in Asia are in a condition of malnutrition. All governments obviously desire to do all that is possible for the physical well-being of children and for their mental efficiency during education. Both can be greatly improved by the provision of at least one nutri- tious meal daily by which known deficiencies in the usual diets of the children may be corrected. Another aim in providing a school meal is to teach proper eating habits, which may have far-reaching effects throughout the rest of life. Further, an appreciation of such habits gained by children is frequently transferred to their parents. The vulnerable groups considered here are: (a) children of school age from five years and onwards, (b) preschool children from after infancy to school age, (c) infants, and (d) pregnant and nursing women. Present feeding programs A memorandum by the FAO Nutrition Division on present programs for feeding vulnerable groups in a number of countries in the region was available to the Committee. In most countries something has been done in this field, but few well-organized school-feeding programs covering large numbers of children and established on a permanent basis are in oper- ation. While there is a widespread movement in the East to develop the feeding of the vulnerable groups, the movement is at present very limited in scope, and only a small percentage of the population is reached. Foods of choice The Committee unanimously agrees that the best food in the diets of infants and children is milk, but recognizes [13 ]
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