[1][2][3][4][5] Nafis Sadik was born on 18 August 1929 in Jaunpur, British India as the daughter of Iffat Ara and Muhammad Shoaib, former Finance Minister of Pakistan.
[1][6][7] After graduating, she went to the USA to complete an internship in gynaecology and obstetrics at City Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland and finished her further education at the Johns Hopkins University.
[1] Shortly after the sudden death of the UNFPA Executive Director, Rafael Salas, UN Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar appointed her to succeed him, in 1987, thus becoming the first woman to head one of the United Nations' major voluntarily-funded programmes.
This was particularly important for population policies and programmes in the Third World and developing countries, where her strategy for providing females with education and the tools to control their own fertility has influenced the global birthrate.
[6][5] Sadik's contribution to improving the health of women and children in the global community brought her many international awards and honors.