World Food Prize goes to an economist and a doctor

DES MOINES, Iowa -- The World Food Prize will be awarded this year to two men who have dedicated their careers to improving the availability of nutritious food for pregnant women and children in an effort to reduce the effects of malnutrition in developing countries.

Lawrence Haddad, who is a British economist and food policy researcher, and Dr. David Nabarro, who has worked with the World Health Organization and United Nations on health and hunger issues, were named the 2018 prize recipients in a ceremony Monday.

The World Food Prize was created by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Norman Borlaug in 1986 to recognize scientists and others who have improved the quality and availability of food.

Haddad and Nabarro were recognized for their work to improve nutrition for mothers and children from pregnancy to a child's second birthday -- the most critical time for proper nutrition in a child's development. Their leadership and advocacy is credited with helping to reduce the world's number of children stunted from malnourishment between 2012 and 2017.

"There are 10 million fewer children who are physically and mentally stunted as a result of under-nutrition," said Kenneth Quinn, World Food Prize president.

Haddad lives in England and is executive director of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, a Swiss-based nonprofit launched at the United Nations to tackle the human suffering caused by malnutrition.

He is credited with using economic and medical research to persuade development leaders to make child nutrition a priority.

Haddad said improving nutrition of citizens in many developing countries was seen as a nice outcome of a nation's economic improvement a decade ago, but through combining science, politics and communication, he managed to show leaders that improved nutrition can drive development.

"We really forged something that was compelling and hard to ignore. We said if you ignore nutrition, you're ignoring development," he said. "Kids entering the labor force malnourished will not do as well in school or in the labor market, they will not be entrepreneurial and you will not get this industrial transformation."