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Dr. Nafis Sadik
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Dr. Nafis Sadik served as Executive Director
of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), with the rank of
Under-Secretary-General, from 1987 through 2000.
On her appointment in 1987, she became the first
woman to head one of the United Nations' major voluntarily-funded
programmes.
Dr. Sadik has consistently called attention to
the importance of addressing the needs of women, and of involving
women directly in making and carrying out development policy. This
is particularly important for population policies and programmes.
In June 1990, the Secretary-General of the United
Nations appointed Dr. Sadik Secretary-General of the International
Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), 1994. On the Conference,
Dr Sadik has said:
"When the essential needs of the individual
are addressed, those of larger groups--the family, the community,
the nation and indeed the planet are more likely to be kept in the
right perspective. One of the challenges to the Conference is to
find the balance between individual rights and responsibilities
on the one hand, and the rights and obligations of the wider society
on the other."
A national of Pakistan, Dr. Sadik was born in
Jaunpur, India, the daughter of Iffat Ara and Mohammad Shoaib.
Dr. Sadik's contribution to improving the health
of women and children of the global community has brought her many
international awards and honours.
She is a member of the Board of Governors of the
Foundation for Human Development, and a member of the South Asian
Commission on the Asian Challenge. Dr. Sadik was the President of
the Society for International Development (SID) for the period 1994-1997.
Dr. Sadik has written numerous articles for leading
publications in the family planning, health, and population and
development fields, and edited several books, among them: Population:
The UNFPA Experience (New York University Press, 1984), Population
Policies and Programmes: Lessons Learned from Two Decades of Experience,
(New York University Press, 1991), and Making a Difference: Twenty-five
Years of UNFPA Experience, (Banson, London, United Kingdom, 1994).
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