Dr. Nafis SADIK

Dr. Nafis Sadik is Special Advisor to the United Nations Secretary-General, and the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Asia and the Pacific.  In 2003, Dr. Sadik was appointed to membership of the UN Secretary-General’s High Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change.

Dr. Sadik previously held the post of Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) from 1987 to 2000, with the rank of Under-Secretary-General, and was the first woman to head one of the UN’s major voluntarily-funded programmes.

A national of Pakistan, Dr. Sadik was educated in India, Pakistan and the United States.  She began her professional life as a physician in Pakistan, and was that country’s Director General of the Central Family Planning Council.

Dr. Sadik is a dynamic leader in the field of international maternal and child health issues, as well as reproductive and sexual health. She has been honored with numerous national and international awards, most recent of which was her selection as the Laureate, in the individual category, of the United Nations Population Award 2001 for her outstanding contribution to the awareness of population issues.