Thailand is located in Southeast Asia. The recent

census reveals a total population of 50 million, of which 80 % live in rural areas. Children under 15 years of age constitute 38 % of the population. The economic foundation of the nation is rice farming. Current clinical nutrition problems affecting the life and well-being of the Thai population are under-nutrition, overnutrition, diseases requiring therapeu-tic nutrition, and food hazard. The seven leading causes of undernutrition are protein-calorie malnu-trition (PCM), iron deficiency anemia, beriberi, ribo-flavin deficiency, vitamin A deficiency, simple goiter, and pediatric bladder stone disease. These under-nutrition problems have been reviewed elsewhere.’ At present, there are seven medical schools in Thailand. Four are in Bangkok, the capital of Thai-land, and the remaining three are located in north-ern, northeastern, and southern parts of the country. Basic nutrition is traditionally taught by the Depart-ment of Biochemistry in all medical schools, whereas clinical nutrition is largely implemented by the De-partment of Pediatrics, through the teaching of infant feeding and management of children with malnutri-tion. Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, which is the third medical school of Thailand, was founded by Mahidol University in 1965 and opened in 1969. In contrast to other medical schools, nutrition activ-ities are included not only in the Department of Pediatrics, but also in the Department of Medicine, through the effort of Professor Aree Valyasevi, th