The Borlaug Blog

Today, the World Food Prize Foundation announced Dr. Lawrence Haddad and Dr. David Nabarro as winners of the 2018 World Food Prize “for their individual and complementary global leadership in elevating maternal and child malnutrition to a central issue within the food security and development dialogue at national and international levels.”

Created by Dr. Norman Borlaug, the World Food Prize annually recognizes and honors individuals that have made a significant and measurable impact in furthering food and nutrition security.  

Because of his life-long belief that food is the moral right of all who are born into this world, Dr. Borlaug hoped that the World Food Prize would also serve as the moral compass for the agriculture and food systems of the modern world to meet the food supply and the nutritional needs of a fast-growing global population.

Norm believed that, with advances in science and progressive policies, our food and agriculture sector can be managed and supported to sustainably meet the global food supply, spur economic growth and protect the environment.

Though the ultimate optimist, Dr. Borlaug was also a pragmatist and a tireless leader. He realized that feeding the world will remain a persistent challenge for humanity. He knew that his aspirations of achieving dignity for the poor and better stewardship for our planet would materialize only if we remained relentless, persistent, and as highly focused as he was in our quest to end hunger and alleviate malnutrition.  

Fighting hunger, improving nutrition and protecting the endowments of our natural resources are multi-faceted challenges that require the engagement of scientists, civil society, political leaders and stakeholders in our greater community of practice, all doing their best to play their part with earnest commitment and dedication to these goals.

Throughout his professional life — both as a plant scientist committed to the development and delivery of his highly acclaimed Green Revolution technologies to farmers as well as in his decades of policy support and advocacy for fighting hunger and malnutrition — Dr. Borlaug was highly transdisciplinary in his approach and scope.

This year’s winners of the World Food Prize exemplify that wise perspective and practical approach, as well as the indefatigable energy and strength that Dr. Borlaug espoused.

Though Drs. Nabarro and Haddad never worked directly together, they moved their programs and efforts like a well-orchestrated athletic relay.  As director of the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and pioneer in economic research relating to nutrition, Dr. Haddad contributed significantly to the creation of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Framework for Action. As a public health official at the United Nations, Dr. Nabarro led the huge task of coordinating the implementation of the framework among nations and donor agencies with great success.

Dr. Haddad is recognized for his persistence in bringing the nutrition agenda to the forefront of the global development agenda with excellent economic and nutrition research. Driven by the harsh realities of his own childhood, Haddad became a staunch advocate of child nutrition and the importance of social protection programs to support the growth and development of poor children.

Through his work at IDS and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and his involvement with several U.K. organizations, including Save the Children and the Department for International Development (DFID), he showed the indispensable value of good nutrition for the physical growth and mental development of children under five years of age.

His careful research and analyses of rich data generated persuasive reports, including the first three Global Nutrition Reports, on the high economic returns that emerge when governments effectively combat malnutrition through creative programming that addresses the plights of hunger and malnutrition in children.

Dr. Nabarro, a champion of public health as a United Nations official, is credited with aligning and mainstreaming the fight against hunger and malnutrition at the many programs of his multilateral agency in support of the many efforts in member nations.

He impacted global child nutrition significantly through the SUN Movement, a United Nations campaign that incentivizes greater commitment to nutrition investment from national governments and donor agencies.

By working alongside these countries to elevate nutrition into policy priorities through the SUN Movement, the coordinated international commitment and leadership that Dr. Nabarro and his team provided resulted in a concerted effort to address childhood undernutrition and stunting as a highly focused and singular global agenda. As a result of these efforts, a significant decline in the number of stunted children has been reported in several countries around the world.

Decreases in child stunting, though generally acknowledged as occurring rather slowly, made rapid progress over the last decade thanks to the evidence-based policies generated and the great leadership effort provided by these two distinguished individuals and their respective programs.

By recognizing Drs. Haddad and Nabarro as the 2018 World Food Prize Laureates, we hope to point that moral compass that Dr. Borlaug intended the Prize to be towards better nutrition for all children.