From David Novak, GDTV 2009, Extended Interview · · Foreign Policy Association
“Over a million people a year are starving and a person every six seconds dies with hunger. We looked at hunger and what the United Nations World Food Program is doing, and it was a natural fit for us to use our global scale to really make a difference.”
On , David Novack, President & Chief Operating Officer at DYNAVAX TECHNOLOGIES CORP, spoke about hunger during David Novak, GDTV 2009, Extended Interview on Foreign Policy Association.
In a 2009 interview with GDTV, David Novak, then CEO and Chairman of YUM! Brands, discussed the company's partnership with the United Nations World Food Program to address global hunger. Novak stated that over a million people starve each year and that a person dies from hunger every six seconds, calling the partnership a "natural fit" for the company's global scale. He noted that YUM! Brands raised $16 million in one week and accumulated 4 million volunteer hours during a campaign, with a goal of raising at least $80 million and reaching 20 million volunteer hours over the next five years. Novak also mentioned that the company would donate close to $200 million of prepared food to the hungry in the United States. Novak highlighted the impact of food inflation, which he said had increased the World Food Program's costs by nearly 70% to feed the same number of people, adding urgency to the issue. He praised the World Food Program for not only feeding the hungry but also building infrastructure for long-term sustainability. Novak expressed optimism about the Clinton Global Initiative's focus on hunger, stating that when world leaders unite behind the cause, they can make a significant difference.