World Health and COVID-19 special envoy David Nabarro dies at 75

It is with great sadness to learn that David Nabarro, the World Health Organization's special envoy for COVID-19 since the early stages of the outbreak in 2020, died last night a family member informed us. David Nabarro was 75.

According to World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: "David was a great champion of global health and health equity, and a wise, generous mentor to countless individuals." Nabarro was also co-director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College in London.

For those who knew him, Nabarro was outspoken, tireless and highly professional advocate for global health, but who also strove to reduce world hunger. (See Nabarro's op-ed in Global Geneva).

In 2017, Nabarro was a lead candidate for the directo-generalship of the World Health Organization, but came in in close second to Tedros at the election.

A remarkable leader in global health

According to some, Nabarro was by far the best candidate, but as one French health specialist put it: "Politics, as usual, got in the way. He would have made a remarkable leader."

At the height of the Covid pandemic in 2021, Nabarro called for more global cooperation and aid to poorer countries during a crisis which was "nothing like anything else we've ever seen in my professional life".