I am awestruck by how similar my view of the world is with that of David Nabarro, a dear friend and colleague who passed away on July 25. This isn’t the first of my friends to die at a younger age than me, but he is the first of my friends who was also a colleague. I suppose I should describe him as a boss, since he was in charge of the organisation for which I worked to advance this particular view of the world. True, in this organisation, he advocated it for a particular cause, the cause of ending child hunger and starvation. But the many people who have written about him now describe this same world view in this work throughout his life, the more I realise that it was this view of the world that drove him. As a teacher, as a leader of efforts to end various diseases, as a key advocate on health issues in the UN, as the head of his own organisation to train others, he was always advocating for the involvement of everyone.
I now realise that he pursued this cause in a way that had far more impact on the world than my more general advocacy of the same philosophy. It was an honour to join with him in the specific approach of child hunger. And I see that he did move to broaden his dedication to the cause by connecting world hunger with climate change. Perhaps it is the more effective way to advocate an inclusive strategy. It is remarkable that someone trained as a physician would be so knowledgeable about the intricacies of human interactions. What a delight it was to know him and to appreciate his leadership in bringing people together, not only between different parts of the world but also in the different ways that people can help each other by working together.