Alan Berg
Deputy Director of the White House's Food for Peace program
In office
1962–1965
Deputy Director of the Population and Nutrition Projects Department of World Bank
In office
1972–1995
Personal details
Born (1932-02-18) February 18, 1932
Dayton, Ohio, U.S.

Alan D. Berg (born February 18, 1932) is an American former civil servant and nutritionist.[1] He is recognized as an international development authority, most notable for his advocacy and large-scale implementation of programs to address malnutrition, particularly among children and pregnant women.[2] His work spans over half a century and has garnered him wide recognition for instigating a new policy approach to international nutrition assistance.[3]

Berg's contributions to the field of nutrition have had a significant impact on the way development agencies and governments approach the issue of malnutrition as a fundamental component of economic growth. His methods and approach, particularly during 23-year tenure as the senior nutrition officer at the World Bank from 1972 to 1995, have been widely adopted by other organizations and countries. Additionally, Berg's work has led to an increased focus on nutrition policy, planning, and implementation in academic training programs for nutritionists, creating new opportunities for graduates in this field.[4][5]

In 1997, a survey of the international nutrition community found that Berg was the most-cited role model for newcomers to the field.[6][7] His contributions to the field were further acknowledged in 2008, when he was honored by the United Nations Standing Committee on Nutrition as one of the first recipients of the United Nations Achievement Award for Lifelong Service to Nutrition, with the committee describing him as a "global giant in nutrition history".[4][8]

Career

White House (1962–1965)

Berg began his public service in nutrition as a staff member and then deputy director of the White House's Food for Peace program under John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.[4] As deputy director, with the rank of deputy assistant secretary of state, he co-chaired the first White House Task Force on Nutrition, which explored the possibility of a role for the government in international nutrition assistance beyond disaster relief and institutional feeding programs.[9]

India (1966–1970)

Berg was then selected by Ambassador Chester Bowles as head of the U.S. government's first national-scale, nutrition program.[4] He moved to India and began his work with the Government of India. His work in India included the management of a large food aid program, the formation of an Indian food and pharmaceutical industry association to combat malnutrition, the introduction of social marketing techniques designed to alter consumer behavior in a nutritionally beneficial manner, and a number of new initiatives to fortify food staples with vitamins and minerals.[10] Berg also initiated in 1969 the concept of Double Fortified Salt, adding iron as well as iodine to common salt, with the aim of reducing iron deficiency anemia without requiring changes in dietary practices.[11]

When famine struck India in 1966-67, Berg coordinated a massive food aid distribution effort that is recognized as having saved millions of lives.[12] The intervention earned him the U.S. government's annual award as the Outstanding Young Civil Servant in 1968. Lester R. Brown, often a critic of U.S. policies, later praised that relief effort: "For the United States, this was one of our finest moments."[13]

During his appointment in India, Berg published in Foreign Affairs, "Malnutrition and National Development," the first in a series of articles and books arguing the case for inclusion of nutrition on the international development agenda.[14] The writings cited evidence from numerous countries on the harmful effects of malnutrition, not only on child development and mortality, but also on economic growth.[14]

Brookings and MIT (1970–1975)

Upon returning to the United States, Berg took a position as a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.[4] There, he wrote his book, The Nutrition Factor: Its Role in National Development, based on his experience in India.[15][16] The book was reviewed by multiple academic journals.[17][18] It was nominated for a National Book Award, cited the effect of poor nutritional status on mortality and on the cognitive development of survivors, underlining the far-reaching consequences of malnutrition.[4]

Berg also served as visiting professor of nutrition policy and planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1972 to 1976, where he organized and led a conference that drew government ministers and international development authorities. He then served as a co-author of another book, Nutrition, National Development, and Planning.[19] During these years, Berg also chaired the Nutrition Panel of the National Academy of Sciences' World Food and Nutrition Study (1975).[20] His work attracted the attention of policymakers and is largely recognized with establishing nutrition as a crucial aspect of international development strategies and devising multisectoral planning tools to address it.[21]

World Bank (1972–1995)

In 1972, Berg joined World Bank as Deputy Director of the new Population and Nutrition Projects Department after an invitation by the president of World Bank, Robert McNamara to join the organization. During the twenty-three years of Berg's tenure, the size of nutrition operations generated by the Bank (free-standing nutrition projects and nutrition components of health, education, agriculture, rural development, and social protection projects), earlier negligible, totaled $2.1 billion, significantly more than the spending of all other donors combined.[22]

Berg's call for due attention to nutrition, as a key component of both economic development and human wellbeing, has been widely acknowledged within the World Bank and internationally. One prominent Bank official publicly referred to him as "the conscience of the Bank on hunger issues."[4][23][1]

In 1987, Berg published another book, Malnutrition: What Can be Done?: Lessons from World Bank Experience, that was reviewed by multiple journals.[24][25]

Global nutrition advocacy (1995–present)

Following Berg's retirement from the World Bank in 1995, he has served as an adviser or consultant to a number of international non-governmental organizations, as well as the World Bank through 2014. He also, through 2010, returned to the Brookings Institution as a Guest Scholar. He continues to serve as a board member of the public health organization Calcutta Kids, providing health and nutrition services to mothers and young children in Indian slums.[26] He maintains active involvement in the development of double-fortified salt.[27]

In addition, Berg has written articles and opinion pieces for Foreign Affairs,[28] The New York Times,[29] Harvard Business Review,[30] The Washington Post,[31] and The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, among other publications.[32]

Bibliography

  • Berg, Alan D.; Holcombe, John (1957). MAP [Military Assistance Program] for Security, University of South Carolina Press.
  • Berg, Alan D.; Scrimshaw, Nevin S.; Call, David L. (1971). Nutrition, National Development, and Planning, MIT Press.
  • Berg, Alan D. (1973). The Nutrition Factor: Its Role in National Development, Brookings.
  • Berg, Alan D. (1981). Malnourished People: A Policy View, World Bank.
  • Berg, Alan D. (1987). Malnutrition: What Can be Done? : Lessons from World Bank Experience, Johns Hopkins University Press.

Editor

  • Berg, Alan D. International Agricultural Research and Human Nutrition, coeditor with Per Pinstrup-Andersen and Martin Forman (International Food Policy Research Institute and United Nations Standing Committee on Nutrition, 1984)

Selected articles

  • "Nutrition as a National Priority: Lessons from the India Experiment"[33]
  • "Famine contained: notes and lessons from the Bihar experience"[34]
  • "Nutrition, national development, and planning: proceedings of an international conference"

Awards and recognitions

Berg received the William A. Jump Award as the Outstanding Young (under 37) Public Servant in U.S. Government for his work in India during the 1960s. He was named a Belding Scholar by the Foundation for Child Development.[35] In 1992, he was awarded the Society of Nutrition Education's "Voices Who Have Changed Nutrition" Award.[2]

In 2008, Berg received the United Nations Achievement Award for Lifelong Service to Nutrition.[36]

Berg was also recognized for the project conception and development of "Bon Appétit!", the nutrition-themed 2003 album that won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Album for Children.[37]

References

  1. 1 2 Crittenden, Ann (September 11, 1975). "Baby Formula Sales in Third World Criticized". The New York Times – via NYTimes.com.
  2. 1 2 Levinson, James (2013). "Vital to the Creation: Interview with Alan Berg". Development. 56 (24): 27. doi:10.1057/dev.2013.1. S2CID 86517498.
  3. ↑ Society of Nutrition Education (1992). Remarks: Voices Who Have Changed Nutrition Award. 1992 Annual Meeting, Philadelphia.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Greiner, Ted (December 31, 2022). "A tribute to Alan Berg". World Nutrition. 13 (4): 2–4. doi:10.26596/wn.20221342-4. ISSN 2041-9775. S2CID 255371006.
  5. ↑ "Sliding toward nutrition malpractice: time to reconsider and redeploy (originally presented as the Fourth Annual Martin J. Forman Memorial Lecture, June 24, 1991)". American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 57: 3–7. 1992.
  6. ↑ Society of Nutrition Education (September 1997). How Are We Doing in International Nutrition? Describing a survey conducted for and reported in the Tenth Annual Martin J. Forman Memorial Lecture. Cairo.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  7. ↑ In her autobiography, Liberian President and Nobel Prize Winner Ellen Johnson Sirleaf credits Berg for her success in shepherding her first project through the World Bank's top management and Executive Directors.Sirleaf, Ellen Johnson (2009). This Child Will Be Great: Memoir of a Remarkable Life by Africa's First Woman President. Harper/Harper Collins. pp. 78–79. ISBN 9780061353475.
  8. ↑ United Nations Standing Committee on Nutrition (March 2008). Report of the Thirty-Fifth Session. Hanoi.
  9. ↑ Meeting Nutritional Needs: Report of the Sub-Group on Nutrition, Interagency Task Force on Food and Agricultural Assistance to Less-Developed Countries, The White House, March 3, 1965,"  and "Nourishing Lives and Building the Future, USAID", June. 2019, pp. 14-16.
  10. ↑ Berg, Alan (November 1970). Nutrition as a National Priority: Lessons from the India Experiment. Vol. 23. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. pp. 1396–1408. OCLC 1657423.
  11. ↑ Berg, Alan and F. James Levinson (1969). "With a Grain of Fortified Salt". Food Technology. 32 (9): 70–72.
  12. ↑ McGowan, Joe Jr. (August 28, 1967). "Massive Operation Curbs Starvation". Spokane Daily Chronicle. See also "Famine Contained: Notes and Lessons from the Bihar Experience", pp. 113-129 in Famine: Nutrition and Relief Operations in Times of Disaster (1971). Almqvist & Wiksell, Stockholm, and Swedish International Development Authority.
  13. ↑ Brown, Lester R. (2014). Breaking New Ground: A Personal History. New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN 9780393240061.
  14. 1 2 Berg, Alan (October 1967). "Malnutrition and National Development". Foreign Affairs. 46 (1): 126–136. doi:10.2307/20039286. JSTOR 20039286. In addition to The Nutrition Factor and Nutrition, National Development, and Planning, which are cited in the Publications section, see also these subsequent writings, among others, by Berg: "Increased Income and Improved Nutrition: A Shibboleth Examined," International Development Review, 1970/3, pp. 2-7; "A Strategy to Reduce Malnutrition," Finance & Development, March 1980, pp. 22-26; "The Trouble with Triage," New York Times Magazine, June 15, 1975, pp. 26-35; "To Save the World from Lifeboats," Natural History, June–July 1975, pp. 4-6; "Feed the Hungry" (op ed), New York Times, September 3, 1988; "Malnutrition and National Development," Journal of Tropical Pediatrics (September 1968),14 (3); "Nutrition and development: the view of the planner," coauthor with Robert Muscat, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (February 1, 1972) 25 (2): 186–209; "Nutrition, National Development, and Planning," coauthor with Nevin S. Scrimshaw and David L. Call, Economic Development and Cultural Change (July 1976) 24 (4): 860–866; and "Industry's struggle with world malnutrition," Harvard Business Review (January 1972).
  15. ↑ Times, Kathleen Teltsch; Special to The New York (April 19, 1973). "Poor Lands Do Little on Protein Deficiency". The New York Times – via NYTimes.com.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. ↑ Smith, Victor E. (September 1, 1974). "The Nutrition Factor: Its Role in National Development". Journal of Economic Issues. 8 (3): 642–645. doi:10.1080/00213624.1974.11503217 – via Taylor and Francis+NEJM.
  17. ↑ M.C.P. (1974). "Book Review – A. Berg, The Nutrition Factor: Its Role in National Development, The Brookings Institution, 1775 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20036 (1973), 290 pp., $8.95". Journal of Nutrition Education. 6 (3): 114. doi:10.1016/S0022-3182(74)80159-7.
  18. ↑ Taylor, Carl E. (October 12, 1973). "Feeding Nations: The Nutrition Factor . Its Role in National Development. Alan Berg. Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C., 1973. xii, 290 pp. $8.95". Science. 182 (4108): 155–156. doi:10.1126/science.182.4108.155.
  19. ↑ Schneider, Howard A. (1974). "Book review". Journal of Nutrition Education. 6 (1): 29. doi:10.1016/S0022-3182(74)80209-8.
  20. ↑ World Food and Nutrition Study. National Academy of Sciences. 1977. p. vol. IV.
  21. ↑ Darby, William J. (November 1973). "The Nutrition Factor, Its Role in National Development". Nutrition Today. 8 (6): 233–247. doi:10.1097/00017285-197311000-00009. ISSN 0029-666X.
  22. ↑ Herforth, Anna; Tanimichi Hoberg, Yuri (2014). Learning from history: Agriculture and food-based approaches to address malnutrition at the World Bank over time. Washington, DC: World Bank.
  23. ↑ Closing statement by Ismail Serageldin at the Conference on Actions to Reduce Hunger Worldwide, November 30 – December 1, 1993, published in Serageldin, Ismail, and Pierre Landell-Mills, eds. (1994). Overcoming Global Hunger: Proceedings of a Conference on Actions to Reduce Hunger Worldwide. World Bank.
  24. ↑ "Book Review: Malnutrition: What Can be Done? Lessons from World Bank Experience". Food and Nutrition Bulletin. 10 (2): 1. June 14, 1988. doi:10.1177/156482658801000202. S2CID 129195836.
  25. ↑ Harpham, Trudy (1988). "Reviewed work: MALNUTRITION: WHAT CAN BE DONE? Lessons from World Bank Experience, Alan Berg". Community Development Journal. 23 (3): 214–216. doi:10.1093/cdj/23.3.214. JSTOR 44256748 – via JSTOR.
  26. ↑ "Board - Calcutta Kids". June 8, 2021. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
  27. ↑ Mannar, M.G. Venkatesh; Berg, Alan; Menon, Jaykumar; Levinson, F. James (June 30, 2022). "Double fortified salt in India". World Nutrition. 13 (2): 55–56. doi:10.26596/wn.202213255-56. ISSN 2041-9775. S2CID 250199017.
  28. ↑ Berg, Alan D. (November 8, 2021). "Malnutrition and National Development". ISSN 0015-7120. Retrieved December 23, 2022.
  29. ↑ Berg, Alan (September 3, 1988). "Opinion: Feed the Hungry". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 23, 2022.
  30. ↑ Berg, Alan (1972). Industry's struggle with world malnutrition. Reprint / Brookings Institution. Brookings Institution. Washington, D.C: Brookings Institution.
  31. ↑ Berg, Alan D. (July 12, 1970). "India Fortifies Its Children". The Washington Post. pp. C5.
  32. ↑ Berg, Alan; Muscat, Robert (February 1, 1972). "Nutrition and development: the view of the planner". The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 25 (2): 186–209. doi:10.1093/ajcn/25.2.186. ISSN 0002-9165. PMID 4621607.
  33. ↑ https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article-abstract/23/11/1396/4733065?redirectedFrom=fulltext
  34. ↑ Brass, Paul R. (1986). "The Political Uses of Crisis: The Bihar Famine of 1966-1967". The Journal of Asian Studies. 45 (2): 245–267. doi:10.2307/2055843. JSTOR 2055843. S2CID 154950652 – via JSTOR.
  35. ↑ Mason, Edward S.; Asher, Robert E. (2010). The World Bank since Bretton Woods. ISBN 9780815720300.
  36. ↑ "Changing food systems for better nutrition" (PDF). United Nations Standing Committee on Nutrition. 2013. p. 121. ISSN 1564-3743.
  37. ↑ "Kiser graduate's idea sparks Grammy win". Newspapers.com. February 16, 2004. p. 16. Retrieved January 28, 2023 – via Dayton Daily News.
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