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Dr. Nafis Sadik
Dr. Nafis Sadik has consistently called attention to the importance of addressing the needs of women directly in making and carrying out development policy. From April 1987 to December 2000, Dr. Sadik served as Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), with the rank of Under Secretary General, becoming the first woman to head a major UN voluntarily funded programs. In 2001, Dr. Sadik was appointed as Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General, where she continues to work on gender, population and development issues.
Dr. Sadik came to the United Nations after a distinguished career in Pakistan, where she served as Director-General of the Central Family Planning Council. Since beginning her career as a physician in 1954, Dr. Sadik has taken on a number of increasingly challenging leadership roles in the family planning field. She first served as a civilian medical officer in charge of women's and children's wards in various Pakistani armed forces hospitals before directing hospitals and eventually heading the Planning and Training Division, the government agency charged with national family planning program.
Dr. Sadik was educated at Loreto College, Calcutta, India; received a doctor of medicine degree from Dow Medical College, Karachi, Pakistan; and completed further studies at Johns Hopkins University. She is the recipient of numerous international awards and honors for her contributions to improving the health of women and children of the global community.
