2018 World Food Prize goes to two childhood nutrition champions

Lawrence Haddad and David Nabarro were announced as the 2018 World Food Prize Laureates during a ceremony on June 25 at the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA). The Prize rewards their individual but complementary global leadership in elevating maternal and child undernutrition within the food security and development dialogue at national and international levels with the result of reducing the world’s number of stunted children by 10 million between 2012 and 2017.

“Like Dr. Norman Borlaug before them, Drs. Haddad and Nabarro have dedicated their careers to reducing hunger and malnutrition,” said Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “Their work has deepened our understanding of nutrition’s impact not only on individual health, but on human capital and economic growth—compelling leaders in countries across the world to invest in evidence-based solutions.”

The World Food Prize is the most prominent global award for individuals whose breakthrough achievements alleviate hunger and promote global food security. This year’s $250,000 prize will be divided equally between the two recipients.

“For their extraordinary intellectual and policy leadership in bringing maternal and child nutrition to the forefront of the global food security agenda and thereby significantly reducing childhood stunting, it is truly most fitting that Dr. Lawrence Haddad and Dr. David Nabarro join the list of illustrious scientists, policy officials, and hunger fighters who have been named World Food Prize Laureates over the past 32 years,” said World Food Prize President Amb. Kenneth M. Quinn.

A pioneer in food policy research, Haddad brought the issue of nutrition to the forefront by using both economic and medical research to convince development leaders to make child nutrition an urgent priority in the global food security agenda while serving as head of the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) in the United Kingdom from 2004 to 2014. From 2014 to 2016, Haddad prompted further investment in nutrition by co-chairing the “Global Nutrition Report,” an annual review of the state of the world’s progress on nutrition that encouraged greater transparency and accountability among more than 100 stakeholders who had pledged $23 billion to the fight against malnutrition. Haddad now serves as executive director of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), where he continues to lead private and public sector partners in improving nutrition outcomes.

As head of the United Nation’s High Level Task Force on Global Food Security from 2008 to 2014 and coordinator of the UN’s Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement from 2010 to 2014, Nabarro united 54 countries and one Indian state under the SUN Movement to implement evidence-based policies and fight child malnutrition in South Asia and Africa. Many participating countries reported a significant decline in the number of stunted children after adopting SUN guidelines. Nabarro continues to oversee SUN through his service on its advisory Lead Group.

Haddad and Nabarro will receive the World Food Prize at a ceremony in the Iowa State Capitol building in Des Moines on Oct. 18, 2018.