Worldfish scientist wins 2021 World Food Prize
DR. Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted, Global Lead for Nutrition and Public Health at Worldfish, on Wednesday was named the 2021 World Food Prize Laureate for her groundbreaking research, critical insights, and landmark innovations in developing nutritionsensitive approaches to aquatic food systems.
Thilsted is the first woman of Asian heritage to be awarded the World Food Prize.
Often referred to as the “Nobel Prize for Food and Agriculture,” the World Food Prize is the most prominent global award recognizing an individual who has enhanced human development and confronted global hunger through improving the quality, quantity, and availability of food for all.
Thilsted was the first to examine the nutritional composition of small native fish species commonly found and consumed in Bangladesh and Cambodia. Her research demonstrated that the high levels of multiple essential micronutrients and fatty acids in these affordable and locally available foods offered life-changing benefits for children’s cognitive development in their first 1000 days of life and the nutrition and health of their mothers.
From this breakthrough, Thilsted went on to develop nutritionsensitive approaches and innovations to food production from land and water that have improved the diets, nutrition, and health of millions of vulnerable women, men, and children living in low- and middleincome countries across Asia, Africa, and the Pacific.
Announcing the award during the webcast event by the World Food Prize Foundation today, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: “Dr. Thilsted figured out how these nutrient-rich small fish can be raised locally and inexpensively. Now, millions of low-income families across many countries, including Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Nepal, Burma, Zambia, Malawi, are eating small fish regularly, dried and fresh, in everything from chutneys to porridge, giving kids and breastfeeding mothers key nutrients that will protect children for a lifetime. That is all thanks to her.”
On being named the 2021 World
Food Prize Laureate, Thilsted said: “As a scientist, I feel this award is an important recognition of the essential but often overlooked role of fish and aquatic food systems in agricultural research for development. This award is a major acknowledgment of the urgent need to prioritize fish and aquatic foods in nutrition policies and program interventions at national and global levels.”
“Aquatic foods offer life-changing opportunities for millions of vulnerable women, children, and men to be healthy and wellnourished. It is also an important acknowledgment for the insights, voices, and perspectives of millions of people from low-and middle-income countries. These are crucial to shaping the global discourse on nutrition and public health, as well as our shared call to action for a sustainable food systems transformation towards healthier and resilient diets that work for people and the planet.”
A true food systems thinker with many research innovations under her belt, the impact of Thilsted’s research crosses over different disciplines and sectors.