Dr David Nabarro, Professor of Global Health at the Imperial College London, has been a leader in international public health for well over 40 years. Much of this time, the United Nations has
entrusted him to lead collective action on some of the most pressing and complex challenges of our time—the avian and pandemic influenza, food security, malnutrition, Ebola and for promoting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
Follow this story and more: https://www.outlookindia.com/
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entrusted him to lead collective action on some of the most pressing and complex challenges of our time—the avian and pandemic influenza, food security, malnutrition, Ebola and for promoting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
Follow this story and more: https://www.outlookindia.com/
#Poshan #OutlookPoshan #OutlookMagazine #OutlookGroup
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NewsTranscript
00:00 with me is Mr. David Navarro, who is the member of the SON, Scaling up Nutrition Lead Group
00:07 and Professor of Global Health in Imperial College, London and also winner of the most
00:13 coveted World Food Prize.
00:17 There is another commonality between David and me because he is the first recipient of
00:21 the Global Nutrition Leadership Award and I am the seventh recipient.
00:26 So, congratulations.
00:27 Thank you so much, thank you so much.
00:30 And it has been a great privilege to be with you in Kathmandu in the SON Global Gathering
00:37 and also today in Food System Dialogue.
00:40 And I am very happy and I think India is very happy to hear from you with your prolific
00:47 background and experience.
00:49 I think country will benefit.
00:52 Thank you so much for agreeing for this interview.
00:56 And can you tell me why nutrition is important because you have been working on nutrition
01:02 and food security agenda for decades.
01:06 You have you have travelled all over the world, you also worked in India and you are telling
01:12 that you also worked in my state in Odisha in many districts which is affected by left
01:18 wing extremist travel.
01:19 So, can you tell why nutrition is important?
01:23 Thank you very much indeed.
01:24 Basanti, I started working on issues here in the subcontinent of South East Asia in
01:36 1970, 1978.
01:37 That is a lot of years ago.
01:42 My operations at that time involved me being a child health doctor working in East Nepal
01:52 and then also having responsibilities in South East Asia.
01:57 So actually in the early 1980s I was involved in some child health and nutrition work in
02:04 Orissa, which was me being based in Jagat Singhpur near Cuttack and then also travelling
02:12 to different districts including Phulbani, Kalahandi and Koraput as it used to be called.
02:21 And you know what I discovered is that so many of the children that I would see in clinics
02:28 or in health posts were ill because they were experiencing diseases but they were also often
02:39 undernourished.
02:41 And even at that stage I knew that an undernourished child was more likely to experience severe
02:48 consequences of an illness compared with a well-nourished child.
02:54 I also saw how malnutrition in early years could have a really bad impact on the long-term
03:02 growth of a child, particularly leading to stunted growth, especially if the malnutrition
03:10 occurred very young.
03:12 That stunting was sometimes quite hard to overcome with subsequent treatment leading
03:17 to long-term shortness of growth and that didn't just lead to being short but it also
03:24 meant that organs in the body weren't fully formed and that had implications for the development
03:32 of the adolescent and then the adult.
03:35 So I thought to myself, if I really want to make a difference to the well-being of children
03:41 around the world, I must get involved in nutrition and that's why I started to focus on nutrition
03:50 and over the years I looked for ways to increase emphasis on nutrition.
03:56 I worked for the British government, the United Nations and others and now that's why you
04:02 and I are bonded by our own joint interest in the relationship between illness and nutritional
04:10 status and that's why you have just been awarded this award because of your role in
04:17 raising the profile of nutrition in India and I'm very pleased to be working with you
04:23 given that I've been so concerned about malnutrition among children in this region really since
04:30 I started out in medicine some years ago.
04:33 Very good.
04:34 Good to know about your passion, how you could make your passion as a profession.
04:38 I'm very happy that there is another commonality.
04:41 I also belong to Odisha as I told and also part of undivided Kotak and Jagashimpur is
04:47 part of that.
04:49 So how my motherland could influence your thinking and action, I am very impressed.
04:56 David, you also worked on sustainable development goal agenda.
05:02 You were a special rapporteur to UN Secretary General.
05:07 Can you tell how nutrition can be centre of the development agenda?
05:11 Absolutely.
05:12 These sustainable development goals are part of the sustainable development agenda which
05:20 was agreed by 193 world leaders in September 2015 after a three year negotiation process
05:31 and the principles at the centre of this sustainable development agenda are that it's people centred,
05:40 it's interconnected, it's universal, it calls for integrated action that can be achieved
05:48 best through partnering.
05:51 So there's five principles, people centred, interconnected, universal, calling for integrated
05:58 action and partnering are really at the centre of how we are asked to focus on the sustainable
06:05 development agenda.
06:07 And then there are the 17 goals which truly are covering every aspect of what matters
06:14 for people and the planet.
06:16 Now nutrition which is both a marker of sustainable development and at the same time a very important
06:25 influence on the well-being and potential of the young person especially as they get
06:31 older.
06:32 Nutrition is a really good example of an interconnected issue that actually is relevant to every one
06:40 of the sustainable development goals.
06:43 And the reason why nutrition is so important is that it matters to every single person
06:48 in our world.
06:49 That's currently about 7.6 billion people.
06:53 Well nourished they will perform to their best potential.
06:58 Poorly nourished they will not perform so well.
07:02 And in today's world there are nearly a billion children and young people and some adults
07:11 who are affected by undernutrition and there are more than a billion who are affected by
07:16 overnutrition.
07:18 If you add it together it's at least 2 billion out of the total 7.6 billion who are poorly
07:26 nourished.
07:27 I stress that we have to deal with both ends, the undernourished and the overnourished because
07:34 both of them are affected and suffer as a result of their nutrition problems.
07:40 Clearly for me this really is the most important issue to cover right across the sustainable
07:49 development agenda because without good nutrition humanity will not be well placed to deal with
07:55 the challenges of the future.
07:57 Thank you so much and thank you for your leadership in bringing nutrition in sustainable development
08:04 goal 2 and also placing nutrition along with food security and agriculture.
08:09 This is remarkable.
08:10 Well I can't take credit Basantji.
08:13 I work with many others but I did believe that nutrition ought to be there inside goal
08:21 2 because I think that it really is an issue that is relevant to health, agriculture, social
08:31 and economic development and human rights.
08:35 And because it has that central role in between several different areas, nutrition is there.
08:43 Thank you.
08:44 I'm so glad it's there.
08:45 Thank you so much.
08:46 Thank you so much for your profound humility.
08:48 So much appreciated.
08:50 You spoke about undernutrition and also overnutrition and obesity.
08:56 India has a double burden on malnutrition.
08:59 In fact as per National Family Health Survey the stunting is almost 38% and obesity and
09:07 overweight is almost 20% and in some cases, in some states it's more than 20%.
09:16 Whenever there is a double burden on malnutrition, so people say that food system is broken.
09:22 So what are your messages for India?
09:26 I think something that I'll say to you now straight away is that I'm always a bit scared
09:31 of saying that something is broken when it has been so brilliant for humanity.
09:37 If we look at the world these days, there is plenty of food available for everybody
09:44 with some to spare.
09:46 If we look at today's world, everybody can access a healthy and nutritious diet if they
09:53 can afford it.
09:56 If we look at today's world, we don't have major famines, even though there are periods
10:03 when because of climate change or because of economic or political factors including
10:09 violent conflict, you actually do get communities that are really short of food.
10:14 But we've set up in this world some amazing mechanisms to prevent some of the worst extremes.
10:22 So I'm kind of not saying the food system is broken.
10:27 I am saying that there are problems that need attention at the political level as well as
10:36 at the technical level because if there's enough food for everybody, why isn't everybody
10:41 getting it?
10:43 And so that's why I believe that we need political and professional action to make sure that
10:51 everybody gets the food they need to give them the nutrition they require to achieve
10:56 their potential.
10:57 Very good.
10:58 I think you are reiterating the principles of universalization, principles of equity,
11:04 principles of equality.
11:05 I think that is more important for a country like India where there are multiple deprivations.
11:12 There are social exclusion, geographical exclusion, economic exclusion and policy exclusion.
11:16 I think your message is very good.
11:18 The second message is also very reassuring, Dr. David, that food system is not broken.
11:24 There is a problem.
11:26 I think that is a very reassuring message from a person like you.
11:29 Thank you so much.
11:30 Thank you.
11:31 Thank you.
11:31 [BLANK_AUDIO]