Nafis Sadik, Special Adviser To UN Secretary General Passes Away: Report

Nafis Sadik, a Pakistani doctor, who  contributed heavily in improving the health of women and children of the global community, also a first women to head one of the United Nations' major voluntarily-funded programmes, died at her home in New York on Sunday, 14 August, four days before her 93rd birthday, as per reports. She also served as Executive Director of UNFPA.

Post- retirement from the UNPF in 2000, Sadik served as special adviser to the secretary-general of United Nations.  Dr. Natalia Kanem, current executive director of the U.N. Population Fund mourned her passing, called Sadik a “proud champion of choice and tireless advocate for women’s health, rights and empowerment.”

Dr. Sadik began her professional life as a physician, practicing obstetrics and gynecology in rural communities in Pakistan. The Pakistan government appointed her director general of the Central Family Planning Council during the 1960s. She started her journey with the U.N. Population Fund (UNPF) in 1971, became its assistant executive director in 1977. Later, appointed as an executive director in 1987 by then Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar. She developed a revolutionary program of action that advocated women's rights to have control over their reproductive and sexual health.

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Dr. Nafis Sadik, a Pakistan nationalist was born in Jaunpur, India, to mother Iffat Ara and father Mohammad Shoaib,  who was the Finance Minister of Pakistan for eight years. She was married to Azhar Sadik, businessman and is survived by five children. She completed her initial education 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). Also, first female recipient of the Hugh Moore Award in 1976, named after a pioneer in the US credited with calling attention to the population crisis.