UNFPA executive director passes away

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director Dr Babatunde Osotimehin passed away on Tuesday at his residence. He was 68. “This is a devastating loss for UNFPA and for the people, especially women, girls and youths, he dedicated his life to serving, starting from when he became a doctor in Nigeria. UNFPA expresses its deep sympathy to his family and prays that they have the fortitude to bear this great loss,” said a press statement released by the UN organisation. Dr Osotimehin was a physician and public health expert. He became UNFPA’s fourth executive director on January 1, 2011. Prior to that, he was Nigeria’s Minister of Health. He also served as the director general of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS, which coordinated HIV and AIDS work in Nigeria. Dr Osotimehin qualified as a doctor from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, in 1972, and went to the University of Birmingham, England, where he got a doctorate in medicine in 1979. He was appointed as a professor at the University of Ibadan in 1980 and headed the Department of Clinical Pathology before being elected as the provost of the College of Medicine in 1990. He received the Nigerian national honour of Officer of the Order of the Niger in December 2005. He led several councils, including the World Economic Forum. He was married, had five children and several grandchildren.