David Nabarro dies at 75 :One of the key champions for nutrition, COVID 19 and sustainable development

Sir Dr. David Nabarro, one of the leading experts in health, including nutrition, COVID-19, and Ebola, is no longer with us.  in a post on X Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu, the current Director-General of WHO said:

"David was a great champion of global health and health equity, and a wise, generous mentor to countless individuals," 

He joined WHO in 1999, working on Malaria, AIDS and TB. 

In 2017, David was the UK candidate to head the WHO and the runner-up to Tedos. He served as the Special Envoy for both the Ebola (2014)  and COVID-19 health crises.

David has worked in over 50 countries, collaborating with communities, hospitals, governments, and stakeholders, as well as extensively with the UN. Before joining the UN, he worked for the UK government and ultimately served as head of the then Department for International Development's Health, Population and Human Development division. 

His more recent work has included serving as the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Food Security and Nutrition, as well as the Coordinator of the Scaling up Nutrition Movement. A fantastic initiative that will be active as part of the UN Food System Summit +4 event in Addis Ababa this coming week.

My involvement with David wasnt around his health work but the time he spent as Special Advisor to the UN Secretary General for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Devlopment. He took this role after Amina Mohamed left to become the Environment Minister of Nigeria. With the Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development now agreed, the UN system needed to reorient itself to be part of the implementation of the agreement. 

A significant time for someone with David's skills to be in that position. My fond memories of David are around his blunt way of getting to the point. Like any good diplomat, he can schmooze like the best of them, but he was so good at the direct cut the crap and get down to what needed to be discussed to move something forward.

He has, as said above spent a lot of time on the Scaling Up Nutrition work as a strategic advisor to the 4SD Foundation which he founded. A body whose purpose is to enable established and emerging leaders to be effective for equity, justice and regenerative futures in a complex, fast-changing world. The Foundation focuses on building skills and systems, synergies and advancing sustainable development.

Scaling Up Nitrion in their comment on his life said: 

"David brought people together—not just across disciplines and borders, but across ideologies—believing deeply that progress could only be made by listening, learning, and leading with empathy.

David Nabarro was more than a public servant. He was a mentor, a friend, a force for good in the world. His legacy will live on in the millions of lives he touched and in the global movements for equity, health and sustainability that he helped build."

The UN and sustainable development family have lost a key advocate, a friend, and a champion. This will require more of us to take up the space he occupied and redouble our efforts to deliver the SDGs and the Paris Climate Change Agreement.