Paying tribute to David Nabarro

It is with great sadness that the World Health Organization mourns the passing of Dr David Nabarro on Friday 25 July at his home. He was 75. At WHO, David was at the forefront of multiple areas of work, including malaria control, humanitarian crisis response and outbreaks. Most recently, David served as a WHO Special Envoy on COVID-19. To all who knew him, David was a widely respected, impactful and loved champion of health, equity and disadvantaged people worldwide, who supported many in their career development with his vision, skill, compassion and patience. In a statement, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was “Deeply shocked and saddened by the passing of our dear friend, colleague and WHO Envoy David Nabarro. David was a great champion of global health and health equity, and a wise, generous mentor to countless individuals. His work touched and impacted so many lives across the world. On behalf of WHO, I’m extending our heartfelt condolences to David’s family, friends and colleagues. Rest in peace, my dear friend. We will dearly miss your expertise, wisdom and kindness.” David wore many hats, reflecting his expertise, energy and readiness to help across a wide range of sectors, including health, nutrition and climate change. From 1999-2005, David held senior leadership positions at WHO, starting as the Executive Director responsible for the Roll Back Malaria Project and the Office of the Director-General, before being appointed the Director-General’s Special Representative for Health Action in Crises. In 2005, he joined the United Nations, serving as UN System Senior Coordinator for Avian and Pandemic Influenza (2005-2014), the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Food Security and Nutrition (2008-2014), Coordinator of the Movement for Scaling Up Nutrition (2011-2014, as Assistant Secretary-General), the UN SG’s Special Envoy for the West Africa Ebola Outbreak Response (2014-2015), and Special Adviser for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Climate Change (2016 - 2017, as Under-Secretary-General).  In 2015, the WHO Director-General appointed David as chair of the expert group on the reform of WHO’s work on outbreaks and emergencies in 2015.  In October 2018, he received the World Food Prize for leadership on nutrition.   David was Co-Director (from mid-2019-2025) and Chair of Global Health at the Institute of Global Health Innovation, Imperial College, London. He also founded and was Strategic Director of the Swiss-based 4SD Foundation (Skills Systems and Synergies for Sustainable Development) with Florence Lasbennes in 2018, training and mentoring leaders for sustainable development.  Between 2018 and 2025, David curated the Food Systems Dialogues as a contribution to the transformation of food systems.