Tag: WHO

David Nabarro, Nutrition Leader, Passed Away

Sir David Nabarro, a distinguished British physician, international civil‑servant, and global health visionary, passed away at his home on July 25, 2025, aged 75.  His legacy includes decades of transformational work in global nutrition, food security, public health and crisis response — marked by initiative, collaboration, and deep compassion.  

In 2010, Dr Nabarro was appointed the first Coordinator of the global Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement, uniting governments, civil society, donors, the UN, and the private sector in a shared mission to reduce undernutrition in the first 1,000 days of life.  As Coordinator of the SUN Movement, he worked closely with NGOs such as Action Against Hunger, Concern Worldwide, CARE, Helen Keller International, and others who were key partners in delivering community-level nutrition programs.  Nabarro said, in a Devex interview:  “The creation of malnourished societies is an injustice, is itself an act of violence that is causing damage that is just going on for too long.”

Over his career, he led important U.N. aid responses such as for the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, avian influenza (2005–14), the Ebola outbreak in West Africa (2014–15), and the cholera epidemic in Haiti (2010).  As WHO Special Envoy for COVID‑19, from 2020 until his passing, he emphasized “precision public health” — promoting testing, isolation, and vaccine equity over blanket lockdowns.

  His international health colleague, Dr. Ron Waldman remembers:  “Nabarro has to be considered among the most important and most influential leaders of our time in global health.  It would be difficult to name all of his positions in a single sitting, but even though some of them were brief, he always had a major impact. He led WHO’s efforts on polio, malaria, Ebola, Covid, and disaster relief, among others.

“He was skilled diplomat, but never afraid to ruffle feathers when that would advance a righteous cause; he was a consummate technocrat, but always had innovative and creative ideas and was eager to put them on the table; he was a dreamer and a visionary, but also as much a goal-oriented, down-to-earth pragmatist as any leader could be.

“Dr. Nabarro’s leadership came from deep within, to be sure, but it was as much defined by the loyalty and devotion of his followers from all around the world and from every station, to whom he would never stop listening and from whom he would never stop learning.   He was a great man.”

 Nabarro championed collaboration across sectors, believing that “dialogue, collective and synergistic action” was essential for sustainable impact—an approach celebrated by the Micronutrient Forum, which lauded him as the “founding father of the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement.”   In 2018, Dr Nabarro received the World Food Prize as recognition of his outstanding leadership in maternal and child undernutrition.  In his acceptance speech, Nabarro explained “Nutrition is not just about food. It’s about changing societies, empowering communities, ensuring access to clean water, sanitation, and healthcare.”

     Peter Morris, the retired chair of World Hunger Education Service (publisher of Hunger Notes) recalls “David was a great soul. I remember the first time I met him he was already a legendary persona in the emergency and humanitarian world and very high-placed in the United Nations.  My first impression was how personable and genuinely interested he was in those he spoke to, and what they had to say. A most memorable time for me was when we were in Guinea at the same time during the 2014 Ebola Crisis.  I was the USAID Team Leader, and David was leading the UN actions.  We were on the same UN helicopter whose schedule had been late. “

      “We were up in the air when he was also scheduled to open a meeting via zoom in Europe.  The helicopter was a noisy Russian model yet instead of cancelling the opening, David via his mobile and earphones gave a speech from his webbed seating to a full meeting room without notes, concise, and clear, with great aplomb.  Meanwhile the rest of us were hanging on to the webbing in the helicopter, praying for a safe landing.”

Peter interviewed Dr. Nabarro for Hunger Notes for this article:  https://www.worldhunger.org/an-interview-with-david-nabarro/

The World Health Organization, where he was a senior leader for much of his career, described him as “a widely respected, impactful and loved champion of health, equity and disadvantaged people worldwide,” noting his kindness, mentorship, and readiness to support others in their careers.

Dr. Rick Brennan, who worked many years leading emergency responses at WHO remembers:  “David was one of the most visionary, practical, ethical, and compassionate people with whom I ever worked.  There are so many memories and examples of his extraordinary contributions to global health and humanitarian action.  In Darfur in 2004, we admired him for his determination to demonstrate to the world the scale, scope, and public health impact of the humanitarian crisis.  In Geneva in 2005, partners were amazed by his brilliant management of the first Global Health Cluster meeting – he was the chairman, main technical expert, and rapporteur, writing and projecting the discussions in real time. 

       “And I will always be grateful for his extraordinary support during the Ebola crisis – his encouragement of the WHO team during difficult times; his frequent and positive participation in our morning meetings in Geneva; and his humble, yet authoritative chairing of the Global Ebola Response Coalition.  I envied him for his strategic insights, technical smarts, political savvy, and ability to convey true compassion for the most vulnerable.  A unique man of great passion, and extraordinary personal and professional qualities.”

One of his most hands-on and influential contributions was the development of a simple, locally made height board—a tool used to assess stunting in young children, a key indicator of chronic malnutrition.  Early in his career, serving as the District Child Health Officer in Dhankuta District, Nepal, Dr. Nabarro recognized that many health workers lacked tools to measure child growth and malnutrition.  Deployed by Save the Children UK, Dr. Nabarro helped design and field-test a wooden height board that could be built locally, using simple materials and carpentry skills. The board included a sliding headpiece, a measuring scale, and was constructed to be durable, portable, and easy to use in rural health posts or during outreach clinics.

Dr Nabarro’s legacy is written not just in awards and positions, but in the millions of children saved through improved nutrition programs, the strengthened health systems through crisis response, and the global leaders he mentored.  

Other tributes:

 

Rest in Peace, Dr. Gretel Pelto

Nutritional anthropologist and inspiration to many, Gretel Pelto, passed away on July 15, 2025 at the age of 85.  “She was a  delightful person who sparked my imagination” said a nutritional anthropologist colleague.

Pelto was a pioneer in promoting formative research as a precondition for effective program design.  She helped institutionalize methods like Rapid Ethnographic Assessment Procedures (REAP), which allow programs to quickly understand.   Pelto emphasized that local caregiving behaviors, feeding practices, and beliefs about illness critically influence child nutrition and diarrhea outcomes. She argued that programs must understand how mothers and caregivers perceive and respond to symptoms like diarrhea.  This led to more tailored and relevant messages and interventions, such as adjusting oral rehydration therapy (ORT) messages to local contexts.

Pelto highlighted the central role of women — not just as caregivers — but also as decision-makers who are constrained by time, income, and intra-household power dynamics.

Perhaps her greatest legacy was her bridging anthropology with applied nutrition and public health programming.  She worked with organizations like WHO, UNICEF, and USAID to integrate qualitative insights into nutrition planning.  At the World Health Organization in Geneva from 1992 to 1999, Gretel led groundbreaking initiatives to improve household management of childhood illnesses, shaping global health strategies across Latin America, Asia, and Africa.

Her classic textbook “Nutrition Anthropology:  Prospects and Perspectives” was one of the earliest to flesh out nutrition anthropology in development and aid.  She authored over 160 research articles, 14 books and monographs, and 35 technical reports and manuals.  Many of which can be found in the Cornell University hosted “Gretel Pelto papers, 1974-2017: ” https://rmc.library.cornell.edu/EAD/htmldocs/RMA04327.html

She was awarded the Malinowski applied anthropology award, and the Kellogg Award in International Nutrition, an honorary doctorate from the University of Helsinki (1996), and fellowships with both the American Society for Nutrition and the Society for Applied Anthropology.

Gretel cherished mentoring students and collaborating with colleagues.  Her enthusiasm and keen intellect fostered a global community of scholars and practitioners.  World Hunger Education Service former Chair, Margie Ferris Morris, remembers Pelto — her mentor and advisor:  “Gretel was always encouraging to her students. She once told me to believe in myself more, as the work I was doing was important! “

Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, she was an early friend of musician/roubadour Bob Dylan and taught him the song House of the Rising Sun..  She is survived by her beloved husband and collaborator, Dr. Jean-Pierre Habicht, a famous and accomplished nutritionist.

 

World Hunger Day

May 28 is World Hunger Day, a global initiative to raise awareness about global hunger and inspire action to address food insecurity and malnutrition.  World Hunger Day has been celebrating sustainable solutions to hunger and poverty since 2011, and this year targets the importance of “sowing resilience.”  See:  https://www.worldhungerday.org/

Hunger kills more than AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined, with 9 million deaths annually linked to malnutrition. Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are the hardest hit, with countries like Somalia, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Sudan, and Yemen facing severe crises.

Initiated in 2011 by The Hunger Project, a nonprofit focused on ending hunger through community empowerment, World Hunger Day has grown into a global movement. In 2024, it reached an estimated 48 million people with its message.  The theme of “Sowing Resilience” for 2025 includes messaging about how every local food bank, community market, and volunteer effort is a sign of progress in a long and challenging journey.

In 2025, The Hunger Project hosted a dialogue featuring Rowlands Kaotcha (President and CEO of The Hunger Project) and Amath Pathe Sene (Managing Director Africa for The Africa Food Systems Forum) to discuss building resilience against hunger.

see:  https://www.awarenessdays.com/awareness-days-calendar/world-hunger-day-2025/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Multiple international aid agencies are leveraging World Hunger Day to highlight the urgency of the global hunger crisis through coordinated awareness campaigns. Organizations are utilizing social media platforms, educational workshops, and community engagement activities to reach diverse audiences and promote understanding of hunger’s root causes.  Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) is commemorating World Hunger Day by highlighting their Project Based Food Assistance (PBFA) initiatives, which represent a comprehensive approach to addressing hunger through both immediate relief and long-term development. The organization’s work in Nakwanya, Uganda, illustrates how aid agencies are moving beyond simple food distribution to support community self-reliance through collaborative initiatives that include maintaining beehives and growing crops like maize and beans that thrive in local climates.

Save the Children is using World Hunger Day to highlight the critical situation facing children globally, emphasizing that 153 million children around the world are facing food insecurity.  The organization’s emphasis on the “triple threat of conflict, climate change and economic cost” reflects how aid agencies are framing hunger as a multifaceted crisis requiring comprehensive solutions.  Mary’s Meals is commemorating World Hunger Day by highlighting their school feeding programs that reach over 2.6 million children daily with food and access to education. The organization’s approach demonstrates how aid agencies are using the day to showcase innovative solutions that address multiple challenges simultaneously. Their model recognizes that hunger affects educational outcomes and that school feeding programs can serve as entry points for broader community development initiatives.

The use of hashtags like #WorldHungerDay, #EndHunger, #ZeroHunger, and #SowingResilience demonstrates how agencies are creating unified messaging that amplifies individual organizational efforts.

In Geneva the U.N. World Health Assembly’s of WHO approving two nutrition-related resolutions.  One expanded provisions of the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes, which counteracts dangerous messaging to new parents about breastmilk powder which increases infant deaths, undermining breast feeding.

The second was the WHO Extension of the Comprehensive Implementation Plan on Maternal, Infant, and Young Child Nutrition: This resolution extended the implementation plan to the year 2030, to address malnutrition in mothers and young children.  It encourages  momentum to address persistent malnutrition, such as the 149 million children under five who were stunted and 45 million who were wasted globally as of 2022, along with addressing disorders such as anemia, overweight, and obesity in women.

WHO Reports 43,000 excess deaths in Somalia, in 2022, due to Drought

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported the results of a retrospective study commissioned by both their WHO-Somalia office and Unicef’s Somalia office.  The study,  conducted by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Imperial College-London, used  statistical modeling to determine that approximately 43,000 excess deaths occurred in 2022 due to the drought in Somalia, largely associated with malnutrition.