GAIN’s Executive Director, Haddad Wins 2018 World Food Prize

The Executive Director, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), Lawrence Haddad, has won the 2018 World Food Prize.

Mr Haddad won the 2018 World Food Prize alongside the former special adviser to the UN Secretary-General, David Nabarro.

The duo’s award was announced by the President of World Food Prize Foundation, Ambassador Quinn.

According to Quinn, Haddad and Nabarro won the award 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”

In his acknowledgement of the award, Haddad, who is a seasoned economist, said:

“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.”

He added that:

“On behalf of everyone at GAIN, I would like to congratulate David and say how honoured I am to share this award with him. His achievement turning Scaling up Nutrition (SUN) into a movement changed the nutrition landscape forever. He set the template: be inclusive and yet decisive, marry science with action; facilitate engagement of all stakeholders–even when inconvenient; and champion nutrition at all levels, from the grassroots front-line worker to the highest levels of government and everything in-between”.

Congratulating the duo for the win, the co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, said: “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”.

GAIN Nigeria Country Director, Dr Michael Ojo, also congratulated Haddad, saying:

“Dr Haddad has deeply challenged us through his consistent, passionate and rigorous use of data and evidence to compel leaders in countries across the world to invest in nutrition, Nigeria inclusive. Under Lawrence’s leadership, GAIN is now at the forefront of action to improve the quality of diets by making nutritious foods more affordable accessible and desirable for everyone. This is central to the partnership work we are supporting in Nigeria. By honouring Lawrence, the Prize is endorsing this broad definition of food security – encouraging to us not only feed the world but nourish it”.

The Prize was founded in 1986 by Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Norman E. Borlaug and is the foremost international award recognizing the achievements of individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world.