Latest news with #WorldFoodPrize
19 minutes ago
- Health
David Nabarro, British physician who led UN response to Ebola and COVID-19, dies
GENEVA -- Dr. David Nabarro, a British physician who led the U.N. response to some of the biggest health crises in recent years, including bird flu, Ebola and the coronavirus pandemic, has died. He was 75. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, confirmed Nabarro's death on social media platform X. 'David was a great champion of global health and health equity, and a wise, generous mentor to countless individuals,' Tedros wrote Saturday. 'His work touched and impacted so many lives across the world.' King Charles III knighted Nabarro in 2023 for his contributions to global health after he served as one of six special envoys to the WHO on COVID-19. He won the 2018 World Food Prize for his work on health and hunger issues. He also was a candidate for the top job at the WHO in 2017 but lost out to Tedros in the final round of voting. Nabarro left the U.N. later that year. In 2003, Nabarro survived a bombing at the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad that killed 22 people, including the High Commissioner for Human Rights at the time, and wounded dozens more. Nabarro, then one of the WHO's senior directors, was in a meeting when 'suddenly there was this extraordinary thud," he told reporters during an emotional news conference days later in Geneva, still carrying his blood-spattered notebook. 'We found some first aid kits, got bandages and turned people onto their sides. We were working like in a cloud, in this fog of moaning and crying,' he recalled. The 4SD Foundation, a social enterprise in Switzerland where Nabarro served as strategic director, said he died Friday in a 'sudden passing.' 'David's generosity and unwavering commitment to improve the lives of others will be sorely missed,' it said. Thuy Maryen, Nabarro's longtime friend and the foundation's former communications director, said he was 75 and died at his home in Ferney-Voltaire, France, a suburb of Geneva. The foundation is focused on mentoring the next generation of leaders in global sustainable development.
San Francisco Chronicle
4 days ago
- Health
- San Francisco Chronicle
David Nabarro, British physician who led UN response to Ebola and COVID-19, dies
GENEVA (AP) — Dr. David Nabarro, a British physician who led the U.N. response to some of the biggest health crises in recent years, including bird flu, Ebola and the coronavirus pandemic, has died. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, confirmed Nabarro's death on social media platform X. 'David was a great champion of global health and health equity, and a wise, generous mentor to countless individuals,' Tedros wrote Saturday. 'His work touched and impacted so many lives across the world.' King Charles knighted Nabarro in 2023 for his contributions to global health after he served as one of six special envoys to the WHO on COVID-19. He won the 2018 World Food Prize for his work on health and hunger issues. He also was a candidate for the top job at the WHO in 2017 but lost out to Tedros in the final round of voting. Nabarro left the U.N. later that year. The 4SD Foundation, a social enterprise in Switzerland focused on mentoring the next generation of leaders in global sustainable development, said its strategic director died at his home Friday in a 'sudden passing.' Other details were not immediately available. 'David's generosity and unwavering commitment to improve the lives of others will be sorely missed,' the foundation wrote on its website Saturday.
Winnipeg Free Press
4 days ago
- Health
- Winnipeg Free Press
David Nabarro, British physician who led UN response to Ebola and COVID-19, dies
GENEVA (AP) — Dr. David Nabarro, a British physician who led the U.N. response to some of the biggest health crises in recent years, including bird flu, Ebola and the coronavirus pandemic, has died. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, confirmed Nabarro's death on social media platform X. 'David was a great champion of global health and health equity, and a wise, generous mentor to countless individuals,' Tedros wrote Saturday. 'His work touched and impacted so many lives across the world.' King Charles knighted Nabarro in 2023 for his contributions to global health after he served as one of six special envoys to the WHO on COVID-19. He won the 2018 World Food Prize for his work on health and hunger issues. He also was a candidate for the top job at the WHO in 2017 but lost out to Tedros in the final round of voting. Nabarro left the U.N. later that year. The 4SD Foundation, a social enterprise in Switzerland focused on mentoring the next generation of leaders in global sustainable development, said its strategic director died at his home Friday in a 'sudden passing.' Other details were not immediately available. Wednesdays What's next in arts, life and pop culture. 'David's generosity and unwavering commitment to improve the lives of others will be sorely missed,' the foundation wrote on its website Saturday. Survivors include his wife, Flo, as well as his five children and seven grandchildren.
Hamilton Spectator
4 days ago
- Health
- Hamilton Spectator
David Nabarro, British physician who led UN response to Ebola and COVID-19, dies
GENEVA (AP) — Dr. David Nabarro, a British physician who led the U.N. response to some of the biggest health crises in recent years, including bird flu, Ebola and the coronavirus pandemic, has died. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, confirmed Nabarro's death on social media platform X. 'David was a great champion of global health and health equity, and a wise, generous mentor to countless individuals,' Tedros wrote Saturday. 'His work touched and impacted so many lives across the world.' King Charles knighted Nabarro in 2023 for his contributions to global health after he served as one of six special envoys to the WHO on COVID-19. He won the 2018 World Food Prize for his work on health and hunger issues. He also was a candidate for the top job at the WHO in 2017 but lost out to Tedros in the final round of voting. Nabarro left the U.N. later that year. The 4SD Foundation, a social enterprise in Switzerland focused on mentoring the next generation of leaders in global sustainable development, said its strategic director died at his home Friday in a 'sudden passing.' Other details were not immediately available. 'David's generosity and unwavering commitment to improve the lives of others will be sorely missed,' the foundation wrote on its website Saturday. Survivors include his wife, Flo, as well as his five children and seven grandchildren.
Forbes
5 days ago
- Science
- Forbes
The New World Food Prize Laureate Uses Microorganisms To Save Soils
A soybean field in Formosa do Rio Preto. (Photo by NELSON ALMEIDA / AFP via Getty Images) When Mariangela Hungria, the winner of the 2025 World Food Prize, started college for microbiology, agriculture had just seen the Green Revolution, and scientists were focused on using artificial fertilizers to feed a growing population. But she didn't think that was the way only forward. Dr. Hungria knew that microorganisms could help achieve nitrogen fixation and better soil-health. She knew that biological fertilizers can help feed the world. In other words, she's been a champion of regenerative agriculture before that term was even widely used! The World Food Prize is a prestigious honor that recognizes her lifetime of work that's literally changed agronomics from the ground up. But as a young scientist in the 1970s and 1980s, she faced significant pushback from the mostly male scientific establishment that believed chemicals were the only option. 'It's not easy to start your career when everybody says that you are not going to have a future,' Dr. Hungria says on the podcast. To prove that microorganisms had a vital role not just on smallholder farms or organic operations but within large-scale, high-yield agriculture, 'I had to change the way I was doing research.' She began involving farmers as collaborators in the research process. As with her commitment to regenerative agriculture, she didn't set out to be a trailblazer: She was just doing things the way she thought was right. 'People talk about participative science, and I say, 'I was doing this a long time ago. I just didn't know!'' she says. 'Every research that I did, it was because a farmer came to me to talk about something. It was because a farmer came [to me] or I met a farmer in the field, and he told me what he wanted and what was happening, and that gave me ideas to do my work.' And just as she set out to prove from the beginning, she has demonstrated that the positive results that come from regenerative practices can be scaled up to fit any size farm. 'The same technology, the same bacteria, that helps the small farmers also helps the big farmers,' she says. 'We use the same in 1 hectare or in 100,000 hectares, so that's really wonderful to work with something that's usable for all.' Dr. Hungria identifies several barriers she continues to face in her work, and I think there are a few takeaways that the entire good food movement can learn from: 1. The regenerative agriculture movement cannot be overshadowed by competition and corporate interests. Even when faced with data on the success of biological fertilizers, some farmers are still skeptical due to aggressive marketing from chemical fertilizer manufacturers, Dr. Hungria says. And occasionally, companies that do adopt biological fertilizers seem more interested in widely planted crops that are more profitable, rather than culturally relevant crops in local communities. As Dr. Hungria explained, feeding the world can't be a competition—which is also why she makes all her research and solutions available publicly for free. 2. We have to think creatively about how to earn people's attention. Dr. Hungria believes strongly in the power of scientific communication. But she's frustrated, she says, by the experience of spending time preparing a concise online video explaining nuance and data—only for the video's view count to be dwarfed by influencers spreading misinformation or changing the subject away from agriculture entirely. 3. The future of science has to be collaborative, inclusive, and egalitarian. Dr. Hungria is candid about the challenges she faced and continues to face as a woman and a mother in a male-dominated scientific world. 'I had lots of problems because there were not many women,' she says. 'And worse, I was a woman working with biologicals that nobody believed in, and with two daughters. I was very improbable to succeed in my career.' But Dr. Hungria did succeed—and she's worked for her entire career to rebuild a scientific field that's less competitive and more participatory, collaborative, and focused on listening to others and appreciating diversity of ideas. This is the kind of approach we truly need to transform the food system! She says, 'I really think that the science of the future will be a female science.' I hope Dr. Hungria's work will inspire future generations of regenerative farmers, microbiologists, food advocates, and citizen eaters—and I also hope it'll inspire us right now, in this generation, to take the action we desperately need to nurture our soils, nourish our bodies, and keep our planet alive.
