David Nabarro, British physician who led UN response to Ebola and
COVID-19, dies
[July 28, 2025]
GENEVA (AP) — Dr. David Nabarro, a British physician who led the U.N.
response to some of the biggest health crises in recent years, including
bird flu, Ebola and the coronavirus pandemic, has died. He was 75.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health
Organization, confirmed Nabarro's death on social media platform X.
“David was a great champion of global health and health equity, and a
wise, generous mentor to countless individuals,” Tedros wrote Saturday.
“His work touched and impacted so many lives across the world.”
King Charles III knighted Nabarro in 2023 for his contributions to
global health after he served as one of six special envoys to the WHO on
COVID-19. He won the 2018 World Food Prize for his work on health and
hunger issues.
He also was a candidate for the top job at the WHO in 2017 but lost out
to Tedros in the final round of voting. Nabarro left the U.N. later that
year.
In 2003, Nabarro survived a bombing at the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad
that killed 22 people, including the High Commissioner for Human Rights
at the time, and wounded dozens more.
Nabarro, then one of the WHO's senior directors, was in a meeting when
“suddenly there was this extraordinary thud," he told reporters during
an emotional news conference days later in Geneva, still carrying his
blood-spattered notebook.
“We found some first aid kits, got bandages and turned people onto their
sides. We were working like in a cloud, in this fog of moaning and
crying,” he recalled.
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David Nabarro, World Health Organisation Special Envoy for Covid-19
Prevention and Response, poses after he was made a Knight Commander
of the Order of St Michael and St George during an investiture
ceremony at Buckingham Palace in London, Friday March 3, 2023.
(Victoria Jones/Pool via AP, file)
The 4SD Foundation, a social enterprise in Switzerland where Nabarro
served as strategic director, said he died Friday in a “sudden passing.”
“David’s generosity and unwavering commitment to improve the lives of
others will be sorely missed,” it said.
Thuy Maryen, Nabarro's longtime friend and the foundation's former
communications director, said he was 75 and died at his home in Ferney-Voltaire,
France, a suburb of Geneva.
The foundation is focused on mentoring the next generation of leaders in
global sustainable development.
Survivors include his wife, Flo, as well as his five children and seven
grandchildren.
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