David Nabarro
David Nabarro was appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as his Special Representative on Food Security and Nutrition. Dr. Nabarro coordinates the High-Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis (HLTF) chaired by the Secretary General and as Special Representative, Dr. Nabarro’s additional role is to assist the Secretary-General as he encourages and supports country-led actions for food security and nutrition through comprehensive approaches, coordinated strategies, a strong role for multilateral agencies and increased international assistance. Dr. Nabarro has more than 30 years experience of public health, nutrition and development work at country, regional and global levels, and has held positions in non-governmental organizations, universities, national Governments and the United Nations system. Dr. Nabarro, born in London, qualified as a physician in 1973. After a short period in the United Kingdom National Health Service, he worked for six years in child health and nutrition programs in Iraq, South Asia and East Africa. He also taught for six years at the London and Liverpool Schools of Tropical Medicine, served as Chief Health and Population Adviser to the British Government’s Overseas Development Administration. In 1997, he became Director for Human Development in the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID). In 1999, Dr. Nabarro was selected to lead the Roll Back Malaria initiative at the World Health Organization (WHO). Within two years, he was appointed Executive Director and two years later was asked to lead WHO’s Department for Health Action in Crises, coordinating worldwide support for health aspects of crises preparedness, response and recovery. In September 2005, Dr. Nabarro joined the office of the United Nations Secretary-General as Senior Coordinator for Avian and Pandemic Influenza. In January 2009 he was given the additional responsibility of coordinating the United Nations system’s High-Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis. In October 2009, the UN Secretary-General nominated David Nabarro as his Special Representative for Food Security and Nutrition and – in December 2011 - requested him to serve as Coordinator for the Scale Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement.
