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UNU world hunger programme

Purpose, Goals, and Functions

Purpose
To organize and implement a programme of research, training, and dissemination of knowledge, directed to the alleviation of the problems of world hunger and malnutrition.

Goals

i. To help alleviate pressing global nutrition problems through instruments of scholarship.
ii. To contribute to the continuing growth of vigorous academic and scientific communities concerned with food and nutrition, particularly in the developing countries.
iii. To increase dynamic interaction in the world-wide community of learning and research and awareness of and interest in, the problems of nutrition.

Functions

i. Identifying pressing global nutrition problems that are subject to alleviation through research, advanced training and dissemination of knowledge and are not being adequately recognized or sufficiently dealt with by existing national and international institutions.
ii. Filling major gaps in knowledge and expertise concerning these problems through (a) promoting and Organizing sustained, internationally co-ordinated networks of mission-oriented, multidisciplinary research and advanced training programmes; (b) strengthening individual and institutional capabilities, especially in developing countries; and (c) encouraging innovative approaches to the examination of these problems.
iii. Disseminating to the United Nations and its agencies, to scholars, policy-makers, and to the public, knowledge and new perspectives concerning these problems resulting from UNU activities and from other sources, thereby facilitating the development of relevant approaches and solutions.

Associated Institutions

The Advisory Committee

Dr. Moisés Béhar, Chief, Nutrition Unit, World Health

Organization, Geneva, Switzerland

Dr. Sol H. Chafkin, Division of National Affairs and Social Development, Ford Foundation, New York, New York, USA

Dr. Freda U. Chale, Programme Officer, United Nations Children's Fund Office for Tanzania, Dares-Salaam, Tanzania

Dr. Wenche Barth Eide, Institute for Nutrition Research, School of Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway

Dr. Yujiro Hayami, Professor, Faculty of Economics,

Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo, Japan

Dr. Mogens Jul. Danish Meat Products Laboratory, Copenhagen, Denmark

Past Members of the Advisory Committee

Dr. Marie-Thérèse Basse, Director, Institute of Food

Technology, Dakar, Republic of Senegal

Dr. George H. Beaton, Professor and Chairman, Department of Nutrition and Food Science, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Dr. Stanislaw Berger, Professor and Director, Institute of Human Nutrition, Faculty of Food Technology, Warsaw Agricultural University, Warsaw, Poland

Dr. R. Alexander Buchanan, Australian Liaison Officer, ASEAN Sub-committee on Protein, Australian High Commission, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Dr. Jose E. Dutra de Oliveira, Professor of Medicine, Department of Clinical Medicine, "Ribeirao Preto,"

Dr. Paul Lunven, Chief, Food and Nutrition Assessment Service, Food Policy and Nutrition Division, Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, Italy

Dr. H.A.B. Parpia, Senior Adviser, United Nations Conference on Science and Technology for Development, AGDR, Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, Italy

Dr. D. Picou, Eastern Caribbean Medical Scheme, University of the West Indies General Hospital, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, West Indies

Dr. Roger Whitehead, University of Cambridge and Medical Research Council, Dunn Nutritional Laboratory, Cambridge, England

Professor Tasho A. Tashev, Institute of Nutrition, Sofia, Bulgaria

Sao Paulo University, Ribeirao Preto, Brazil

Dr. Mamdouh Gabr, Professor of Pediatrics, Mounira Children's Hospital, Cairo, Egypt

Dr. Darwin Karyadi, Director, Nutrition Research and Development Centre, Jalan Semboja, Bogor, Indonesia

Dr. Ade Omololu, Professor of Nutrition, Director, Food Science and Applied Nutrition Unit, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria

Dr. Frank C. Ramsey, Director, National Nutrition Center, Bridgetown, Barbados, West Indies

Dr. Tokuji Watanabe, Director, National Food Research Institute, Tokyo Japan

Task Forces

WHP Task Force on Food and Nutrition Policy and Programme Planning:
Dr. Fred Sai
Dr. Sol Chafkin
Dr. Paul Lunven (Dr. Nevin S. Scrimshaw)

WHP Task Force on Post-Harvest Conservation of Food:
Dr. Mogens JuI
Dr. C.P. Natarajan
Dr. Ricardo Bressani (Dr. Maria A. Tagle)

WHP Task Force on Human Nutritional Needs and Their Fulfilment through Local Diets:
Dr. Guillermo Arroyave
Dr. Roger Whitehead
Dr. Barbara Underwood (Dr. Nevin S. Scrimshaw)

NRP-WHP Task Force on Bioconversion of Organic Residues for Rural Communities:
Dr. P. van der Wal, Chairman
Dr. C. A. Shacklady, Co-ord inator
Dr. C.G. Heden
Dr. C.V. Seshadri
Dr. W.H. Barreveld* (FAO)
Dr. E. da Silva* (UNESCO)
Dr. N.S. Scrimshaw (UNU)
Dr. A.C.J. Burgers (UNU)
*In their personal capacity.

FOOD AND NUTRI TION BULLETIN SUPPLEMENTS

Protein-Energy Requirements under Conditions Prevailing in Developing Countries: Current Knowledge and Research Needs

FOOD AND NUTRITION BULLETIN SUPPLEMENT 1, JULY 1979

The purpose of this report is to indicate the current state of knowledge regarding protein and energy requirements and appropriate dietary allowances for various populations living under the conditions prevailing in developing countries and consuming local diets. It breaks new ground by bringing together much hitherto unevaluated original data—including to an important degree data generated by the World Hunger Programme s own research projects. In brief, it points up the fact that present international recommendations are inadequate because they fail to take sufficiently into account the protein-energy needs for recovery and catch-up growth following frequent acute and chronic infections and differences in the digestibility and protein quality of local diets. A principal function of the report is to provide suggestions for further needed research.

WHTR-1/UNUP-18
ISSN 92-808-0018-3
73 pages, 165 x 23.5 cm, paper-bound
US$3.00

Bioconversion of Organic Residues for Rural Communities

FOOD AND NUTRITION BULLETIN SUPPLEMENT 2, NOVEMBER 1979

Increasing attention is being paid nowadays to the development of appropriate methodologies for the production of big-mass from organic residues. The enormous potential of some of the least known and smallest living organisms - bacteria, yeasts, fungi, algae— to upgrade organic wastes into valuable feed and fodder through simple fermentation processes has become widely recognized.

Especially for the developing countries with predominantly rural populations it is imperative that such low-cost bioconversion techniques be fully encouraged and developed for improvement of the socio-economic nutritional and health conditions of rural areas. This book is a compilation of papers originating from a workshop on this subject held at the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama, Guatemala City, Guatemala,

IPWN-1/UNUP-43
176 pages, 21.4 x 28 cm, paper-bound
U5$10.00

HOW TO ORDER PUBLICATIONS

Orders should specify the identification numbers and the full title of the publication, and be addressed to:

Publications Section, Academic Services
The United Nations University
Toho Seimei Building
15-1, Shibuya 2-chome, Shibuya-ku
Tokyo 150, Japan

The cost of packing and mailing by surface is included in the price of the publication. Air mail charges are separate. Payment should be made by check in dollars or with Unesco coupons.

WORLD HUNGER PROGRAMME STAFF

Dr. Nevin S. Scrimshaw Senior Adviser
Dr. Maria A. Tagle Senior Programme Officer
Mrs. Rozanne Chorlton Assistant Programme Officer
Mrs. Audrey Yuse Administrative Assistant
Mrs. Elsie Kimi Buma Secretary

Field Staff (Part-time)

Dr. Fred T. Sai Inter-Regional Co-ordinator—Africa, West Asia, and Europe
Dr. Guillermo Arroyave Inter-Regional Co-ordinator—North and South America
Dr. William Rand Research Co-ordinator
Miss Jane Dittrich Editorial Assistant
Mrs. Virginia Willis Administrative Assistant, Cambridge Programme Office
Miss Gale Bengtson Secretary, Cambridge Programme Office

From the charter of the United Nations university

ARTICLE I

Purposes and structure

1. The United Nations University shall be an international community of scholars, engaged in research, postgraduate training and dissemination of knowledge in furtherance of the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations. In achieving its stated objectives, it shall function under the joint sponsorship of the United Nations and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization thereinafter referred to as UNESCO), through a central programming and co-ordinating body and a network of research and postgraduate training centres and programmes located in the developed and developing countries

2. The University shall devote its work to research into the pressing global problems of human survival, development and welfare that are the concern of the United Nations and its agencies, with due attention to the social sciences and the humanities as well as natural sciences, pure and applied.

3. The research programmes of the institutions of the University shall include, among other subjects, coexistence between peoples having different cultures, languages and social systems; peaceful relations between States and the maintenance of peace and security; human rights; economic and social change and development; the environment and the proper use of resources; basic scientific research and the application of the results of science and technology in the interests of development; and universal human values related to the improvement of the quality of life.

4. The University shall disseminate the knowledge gained in its activities to the United Nations and its agencies, to scholars and to the public, in order to increase dynamic interaction in the world-wide community of learning and research.

5. The University and all those who work in it shall act in accordance with the spirit of the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations and the Constitution of UNESCO and with the fundamental principles of contemporary international law.

6. The University shall have as a central objective of its research and training centres and programmes the continuing growth of vigorous academic and scientific communities everywhere and particularly in the developing countries, devoted to their vital needs in the fields of learning and research within the framework of the aims assigned to those centres and programmes in the present Charter It shall endeavour to alleviate the intellectual isolation of persons in such communities in the developing countries which might otherwise become a reason for their moving to developed countries.

7. In its postgraduate training the University shall assist scholars, especially young scholars, to participate in research in order to increase their capability to contribute to the extension, application and diffusion of knowledge. The University may also undertake the training of persons who will serve in international or national technical assistance programmes, particularly in regard to an interdisciplinary approach to the problems with which they will be called upon to deal.

ARTICLE II

Academic freedom and autonomy

1. The University shall enjoy autonomy within the framework of the United Nations. It shall also enjoy the academic freedom required for the achievement of its objectives, with particular reference to the choice of subjects and methods of research and training, the selection of persons and institutions to share in its tasks, and freedom of expression. The University shall decide freely on the use of the financial resources allocated for the execution of its functions....

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