The World Food Prize Foundation has awarded the 2018 World Food Prize to the Executive Director of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) Dr. Lawrence Haddad, and the former Special Adviser to the UN Secretary General, Dr. David Nabarro.
In a press release made available to newsmen, by GAIN, both Lawrence and David were honoured for their efforts to bring together multiple actors, community grassroots, scientists, businesses, and decision makers in government – to bring about essential policy changes to address the underlying causes of all forms of malnutrition – poor diet being the biggest cause of global ill health.
Announcing the award, World Food Prize President, Ambassador Quinn, said the recipients were awarded 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.”
Reacting to the award, GAIN Executive Director, Dr. Lawrence Haddad, who stressed that the issue of nutrition was not only to feed the world but to nourish, said he was pleased to receive the award.
“I am honoured to receive this award, which has always focused on the critical and urgent issues of the time. For our generation, I believe the issue is not only how to feed the world, but how to nourish it sustainably.”
“Six of the top 10 risk factors for the global burden of disease are related to poor diet. This is not surprising because more than 1 in 3 people on the planet eat too little food, too little food of the right type or too much food of the wrong type,” Haddad added
Congratulating the duo on the award, Co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, noted that “Like Dr. Norman Borlaug before them, Drs. Haddad and Nabarro have dedicated their careers to reducing hunger and malnutrition.”
“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”. Gate added
