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Malnutrition. What can be done? Lessons from World Bank Expe- rience by A. Berg The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1987 139 pp., ISBN o-8018-3553, $10.95

Alan Berg is senior nutrition adviser at the World Bank. In this book he describes the charac- teristics, costs, and effects of four large nutrition projects undertaken in collaboration with the World Bank: the Brazil Nutrition Research and Development Project (1977~83), the Indonesia Nutrition Development Project (19774X3), the Colombia Integrated Nutrition Improvement Project (1978-83), and the Tamil Nadu Integrated Nutrition Project (1980-87). The book gives an ob- jective discussion of the mistakes made in the first three projects and how they were eliminated to make the Tamil Nadu project more successful. This book also surveys World Bank-supported research on nutrition and discusses the nutrition analyses in the World Bank’s economic and sec- tor work. Although this book is written from the perspective of a person concerned with internal evaluation of World Bank Nutrition programme, the experiences reported are invaluable to all persons involved in international nutrition work. Alan Berg has strong credentials to give this assessment of these experiences. He has been involved in international nutrition programs and their evaluation for over 20 years. I strongly recommend this book for anyone interested, in- volved, or planning to become involved in international nutrition work.

Those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it. Some of the history reported by Alan Berg in this book should never be repeated.

H. Kigutha

Department of Health Economics Egerton University

Njoro, Kenya

;I****

Vitamin A Supplementation: Methodologies for Field Trials by the National Research Council National Academy Press, Washington D.C., 1987

91 PP.

This is a report of a subcommittee on vitamin A deficiency prevention control which was held in August 17 and 18, 1986 at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington D.C. The report is based on the outcome of the workshop which reviewed protocols for four trials on child mortality and morbidity in three developing countries, namely, the Philippines, Bangladesh and the Sudan.

The first chapter highlights the major findings of the committee. The second reviews the pur-

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pose and scope of the workshop which is followed by a critical review of an earlier study in In- donesia, by Sommer et al., on vitamin A supplementation. In the fourth and fifth chapters the workshop reviewed in detail the protocols of the four proposed studies, major methodological issues relating to these studies including design, sampling, methods of measurement and other considerations. Finally, the report draws up conclusions regarding expected outcome of the stud- ies, study design and measurement.

This report expresses the views and suggestions of experienced researchers who were members of the subcommittee. The suggestions provided on how to carry out field trials on vitamin A sup- plementation are applicable anywhere in the world and could be applied to any other nutritional supplementation programmes besides vitamin A. It is a valuable guide to less experienced re- searchers who would like to carry out similar studies with success in that it recommends specific procedures to be followed in the design, sampling, data collection and analysis in order to avoid biases in ascertainment of outcomes.

I strongly recommend this report to anyone interested in applied nutrition research with hu- mans, particularly those involved in nutrition supplementation studies and programmes.

H. Kigutha

Department of Health Economics Egerton University

Njoro, Kenya

*****

Radiation and Health: The Biological Effects of Low-Level Exposure to Ionizing Radiation by R. Russell Jones and R. Southwood (Eds.) John Wiley & Sons Ltd., Chichester, Sussex, 1987 292 pp., ISBN O-471-91674-9, f19.95

Of course the primary aim of attending a conference is getting bright new ideas and meeting in- teresting people. But also quite entertaining are the often open-ended plenary discussions which are best described as a battleground for a happy few “green berets” selected by a mysterious process. To get in touch with the fighting spirit(s) of a meeting, the first thing I do when receiving the proceedings of a conference, is to look for a record of the discussions. The papers themselves are usually polished so much that they have lost most of their relation with the actual presenta- tions at the meeting.

Opening “Radiation and Health” I was not disappointed. The book did contain an account of the discussions from the meeting about the biological effects of low-level exposure to ionizing radiation. Although (most probably) the “full battle” of the meeting at Hammersmith Hospital, London, in November 1986 has not been brought to life, the report at least shows something of the scientific, political and social views of the participants at that meeting. The audience was rather mixed, being a gathering of “established” and “dissident” scientists, politicians and environmen-