CATEGORY:SPECIAL EVENT -------------------------- INSIDE GRENADA THURSDAY August 9,2007 The Grenada Food & Nutrition Council was established by the People’s Revolutionary Government in 1980, and is a statutory body under the Ministry of Agriculture. The mission of the council is to promote the nutritional well-being of all segments of the population with emphasis on vulnerable groups: Women, Children and the Elderly. As part of law the Council is required to function in the following ways: * Make recommendations for a national food and nutrition policy. * Develop food and nutrition planning process. * Monitor food & nutrition programs. * Assist in the implementation of selected projects. * Assist in the establishment of food quality throughout the food chain in collaboration with responsible agencies. * Perform such other functions related to food & nutrition, as the Minister may deem necessary from time to time. * Serve as a specialized technical resource in the field of food & nutrition. * Foster the reduction of the prevalence of nutritional diseases. * Identify, assess and define the food & nutrition problems in Grenada especially those of vulnerable groups. * Conduct surveys; provide counseling; contribute to training programs. In 2006 the Grenada Food & Nutrition Council in an attempt o fullfil its mission submitted a project to the Cayman Islands based charitable organization IAMCO, to fund its Food for Families program. The goals of the program are: * To provide the mothers and caregivers in the families with the relevant information regarding health and nutrition. * To assist the mothers in the families to effectively apply nutritional information in the preparation of meals to help their children attain optimum health status. * To provide the families with foods that will help match the information they have received regarding nutrition and their children. The project was accepted and a grant was given to provide food to the underweight children being monitored by the Council. IAMCo is a charitable organization established in 2004. Its mission is poverty alleviation throughout the Caribbean . IAMCo raises funds from individuals, organizations and the general public so that it can: * Promote programs that will directly or indirectly aid in the alleviation of poverty in the Caribbean . * Work in partnership with other organizations that work towards alleviating poverty. * Respond to certain emergencies in the Caribbean . It has funded organizations in the Cayman Island, Jamaica, Haiti , Grenada , St. Vincent , Dominica and Trinidad & Tobago. Through this partnership the Council will be able to provide food parcels to the families of these underweight children with items such as rice, milk, cornmeal, peanut butter, formula for babies (where needed), peas etc. In the past the council has observed that when food is provided, cooked and fed to underweight children they gain weight. The Council believes that the partnering with IAMCO came at the right time because it provides food for twelve months to families with malnourished children monitored by the Council. At the same time this project offers the opportunity in fulfilling some of the Council's objectives. The Council will continue evaluating the nutritional status of the underweight children on a monthly basis by taking their weights and correlating it with their age. It is hoped that as this project goes on, the underweight children will attain normal nutritional status.