PRB Enters the Nutrition Arena

• New & Noteworthy in Nutrition  Issue 1, December 2007 (PDF: 362KB)

(December 2007) New & Noteworthy in Nutrition was first published in May 1980 as an internal newsletter for World Bank staff. It was prepared by Alan Berg, a pioneer in policy and program work in international nutrition work and then senior nutrition adviser of the Bank. The early versions of NNN provided information about major research findings; lessons from recent conferences; new policies and programs; insights from program evaluations; and other cutting-edge issues that compelled the nutrition community at the time. Each edition was known for it clarity, wit, and lighthearted tone, which made it especially interesting to its readers. Eventually, the audience expanded beyond Bank staff to include "friends of nutrition" in many places.

Alan Berg continued writing New & Noteworthy until July 2000, when the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) took over its production and distribution. IFPRI’s work on New & Noteworthy was led by Stuart Gillespie, and continued until 2003 with the support of several organizations. IFPRI has now graciously turned NNN over to PRB.

New & Noteworthy added value in two ways. First, it helped those working in nutrition, many of whom are narrowly specialized, to obtain information across the many domains of their field. Second, NNN provided information about key nutrition concerns in a clear and readable manner to a wide variety of people working on health and development.

Our goal in reviving the publication of New & Noteworthy in Nutrition is to enhance learning opportunities on nutrition and to complement SCN News, produced by the United Nations’ Standing Committee on Nutrition, and other relevant materials. We hope to maintain the clear and engaging style of earlier editions of NNN’. While it may not always have the exciting headings and wording that Alan Berg could uniquely provide, we hope that it will continue to be helpful and something that you and others will look forward to reading.

We plan to use the Internet in several ways to enhance the newsletter's quality and reach. First, we will have a regular section called "Whatever Happened to . . .?" that will be based on selected reader submissions. Second, whenever possible, we will link information in NNN to source materials online. Lastly, we will seek continuous e-mail comments from readers about how we might ensure that NNN meets its substantive aims.

Though we hope to be able to expand its production, NNN for the moment will be published every four months and will be based on a review of recent literature, news articles, and outcomes of important events and conferences related to nutrition. We will also enlist the input of experts in nutrition research and practice as we prepare each issue.

If the response to NNN is a good one and if sufficient financing is available to underwrite its modest production costs, we will produce it quarterly and translate it into Spanish and French. We would also appoint an editorial board to help review each edition.

Before signing off, I would like to thank the many people who provided input and advice for this issue of NNN, including Alan Berg and Stuart Gillespie. I would also like to offer special thanks to Anne Hoffa and Soo Lee, interns at PRB, who were very helpful to this effort.

Richard Skolnik
Director of International Programs, PRB

To subscribe to New & Noteworthy in Nutrition, click here

To give us feedback on New & Noteworthy in Nutrition, send an e-mail to: nnn@prb.org

For More Information

The Population Reference Bureau, long known for its objective and evidence-based work on demography, population, and reproductive health, has entered the nutrition arena with a package of nutrition efforts. PRB’s involvement in nutrition reflects its concerns about the centrality of nutrition to other issues of human health, productivity, and well-being. In July, PRB sponsored a seminar on nutrition and chronic diseases. In August, PRB held a press briefing for the release of its 2007 World Population Data Sheet and, for the first time, focused that press conference on malnutrition. Nutrition was also featured in an accompanying PRB Population Bulletin, and in a policy brief on malnutrition written by James Levinson and Lucy Bassett. The brief is an effort to summarize in a clear, user-friendly, and evidence-based manner the most critical nutrition issues in global health and what we have learned can be done about them in cost-effective ways.
www.prb.org/Publications/Datasheets/2007/2007WorldPopulationDataSheet.aspx

PRB also recently published a newsletter on nutrition and the elderly, as part of a program on aging sponsored by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
Underweight, Undernutrition, and the Aging  Issue 8, October 2007 (PDF: 72KB)