The first woman ever selected in the history of the United Nations to lead one of its major voluntarily funded programmes.
Once, Hillary Clinton opened her remarks in an International Forum at the Hague, she turned to the woman who had introduced her, Dr. Nafis Sadik, "I believe that the world owes her a debt of gratitude, " Clinton told the audience, "for all she has done over the years to place women at the very center of development."
Dr. Sadik, a Pakistani national. Married to Azhar Sadik and has 3 children: Mehreen, Ambereen and Omar. She holds a Doctor of Medicine degree from Dow Medical College in Karachi and completed further studies at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Sadik served as civilian medical officer in various Pakistani armed forces hospitals. Her first hands-on experience, was spent running the women's and children's wards of several hospitals Pakistan. Later she was appointed head of the Health Section of the Government’s Planning Commission. after which she helped shape the country's five-year family planning program. She was made Director-General of the Pakistan Central Family Planning Council in 1970. She joined the United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA) in October 1972 and became Chief of the Programme Division in 1973. As Executive Director of the United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA), She demonstrated dynamic leadership and guiding force in the field of international maternal and child health. On her appointment in 1987 as head of UNFPA, Dr. Sadik become the first woman ever selected in the history of the United Nations to lead one of its major voluntarily funded programmes. Her contributions to improving the health of women and children of the global community has brought, and is continuing to bring her many international awards and honours. Among these, are honorary doctorates from universities such as Brown, Duke, John Hopkins, Wifred Laurier, the Philippines, Tulane, and most recently Nihon. In 1997 Dr. Sadik was awarded both the Martha May Eliot Award from the American Public Health Association, and the Paul Harris Fellow, by the Rotary Foundation. The Secretary-General of the United Nations has appointed her as his special envoy for HIV/AIDS of Asia Center for Reproductive Rights. In June 1990, the Secretary-General has also appointed Dr. Sadik, the Secretary-General of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICDP) in addition to her original responsibilities as Executive Director. Immediately following her retirement from UNFPA in 2000, Dr. Sadik was appointed as Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General, where she continues to work on gender, population and development issues.