Nafis Sadik Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General
Dr. Nafis Sadik, a national of Pakistan, was educated
at Loreto College (Calcutta) and received her
Doctor of Medicine degree from Dow Medical College
(Karachi). She served her internship in gynecology
and obstetrics at City Hospital in Baltimore,
Maryland. She completed further studies at The
Johns Hopkins University and held the post of
research fellow in physiology at Queens University,
Kingston, Ontario (Canada). Dr. Sadik began her
professional life as a physician, practicing obstetrics
and gynecology in rural communities in Pakistan.
She was appointed Pakistan's Director-General
of the Central Family Planning Council having
occupied the post of Deputy from 1968. In 1971,
she joined the United Nations and became a technical
adviser to the United Nations Population Fund
(UNFPA) and Chief of its Programme Division in
1973. From 1982-1987 she served as Assistant Executive
Director.
In 1987, Dr. Sadik was appointed
Executive Director of UNFPA, with the rank of
Under-Secretary-General, becoming one of the highest
ranking women in the UN system and the first woman,
in the history of the United Nations, to lead
one of its major voluntarily-funded programmes.
Dr. Sadik is a dynamic leader and guiding force
in the field of international maternal and child
health, reproductive and sexual health, including
family planning. Dr. Sadik champions the concept
that women's health and well-being are best approached
from the broader angle of reproductive and sexual
health, within the social and economic context
of women's lives. She has consistently called
attention to the importance of addressing the
needs of women by involving women directly, as
well as men.
Dr. Sadik was the first
female recipient of the Hugh Moore Award in 1976,
named after a pioneer in the United States credited
with calling attention to the world population
crisis. She was cited for her leadership in the
family planning field as well as for her leadership
in encouraging other women to find careers in
the population field. Dr. Sadik is a member of
the Association of Pakistani Physicians in the
United States. She was elected to the 1988 Fellowship
ad eundem of the Royal College of Obstetricians
and Gynaecologists in the United Kingdom.
Her contribution to improving
the health of women and children of the global
community has brought, and is continuing to bring
her many international awards and honors. Dr.
Sadik is currently Special Adviser to the United
Nations Secretary-General, and has been named
an Eminent Person for the International Year of
Volunteers (IYV). Dr. Sadik continues her prestigious
career by lending support and sharing her expertise
with several Boards of Directors of organizations
sharing mutual interests.
Her numerous publications
are in the areas of reproductive health and family,
population and development, women, and gender
and development. Some of these are: 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).
She is married to Azhar
Sadik, businessman (retired). They have three
children and two adopted children.
