In Brazil public health is also called
‘collective health’, and the strength of Brazil
in public health, including public health
nutrition, is explained by the national
tradition of solidarity and collective action.
Over a four-month period the Abrasco proposal
for the 2012 Congress involved scores of friends
and colleagues. This picture is of one early
group, at the Society of Latin American
Nutrition Societies (SLAN) Congress in Santiago
last November. Colleagues who worry about public
health nutrition being the domain of old white
men in suits can take heart. Sueli Couto, head
of the nutrition unit at the Brazilian National
Cancer Institute (INCA) is fifth from the left.
Inês Rugani, who with Álvaro Matida of Abrasco
co-ordinated the proposal, is third from the
right.
The Abrasco proposal to host the 2012
Congress, as finally submitted, was reinforced
by a mass of letters of commitment and material
and practical support from crucial relevant
executives and leaders in Rio de Janeiro, the
federal government in Brasília, and elsewhere in
Brazil. These came from national government (the
Ministry of Health, the directors of its public
health and cancer agencies FIOCRUZ and INCA, and
the national tourist agency EMBRATUR), the state
and municipal government of Rio (the Mayor’s
office, and the secretary of tourism for Rio),
and a large number of rectors and directors of
and executive from universities and research
centres.
Jeanine Pires, Director of EMBRATUR, said:
‘You can rely on our official support’. Paulo
Gadelha, Director of FIOCRUZ, gave full support,
‘given the historical trajectory and experience
of Abrasco and its Food and Nutrition Task
Force, and their common mission with the World
Public Health Nutrition Association’. Paulo
Buss, former FIOCRUZ president, and now
president of the World Federation of Public
Health Associations, also pledged support
‘considering the current food crisis and the
impacts of this with other crises – financial,
global warming, energy crisis –all threatening
the health and quality of life of the global
population’. Luis Antonio Santini,
director-general of INCA, said: ‘We are
delighted to express our support for the
organisation of what we foresee will be a
remarkable event in the history of public health
nutrition’.
Commenting, Association President Barrie
Margetts says: ‘Having studied the detailed and
meticulous proposal of Abrasco, and its business
plan, I am gratified that our partners in Brazil
have already created such a resilient network of
crucial supporters’. Association Vice-President
Ibrahim Elmadfa, who is also President of the
International Union of Nutritional Sciences (IUNS)
said: ‘I congratulate Abrasco. Their proposal is
one of the best I have ever seen’. Council
member Roger Shrimpton, former technical
secretary of the United Nations Standing
Committee on Nutrition, said: ‘Brazilian public
health institutions are noted for their
commitment and energy, and for the care they
take with the governance of their public
meetings. All looks good for the Rio Congress’.
Philip James, also a Council member, who is
President of the International Association for
the Study of Obesity, said: ‘I was impressed by
the quality and depth of support for the Rio
Congress from Brazil. I was particularly struck
by the care Abrasco obviously takes with the
organisation, management and funding of the
conferences for which they are responsible’. |