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UN / UNFPA NEW DIRECTOR
STORY: UN / UNFPA NEW DIRECTOR
TRT: 3:07
SOURCE: UNFPA / UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 1 FEBRUARY 2011, UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
1 FEBRUARY 2011, UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK CITY
1. Various shots, UNDP/ UNFPA Executive Board meeting
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund:
“A world approaching a population of seven billion is marked by new dynamics to which UNFPA must support countries to respond. The defining features are rapid urban growth in Africa and Asia with urban growth set to double within a single generation, declining fertility with variance across regions and with Africa home to the highest birth rates, unprecedented ageing, and the world’s largest youth population.”
3. Cutaway, audience
FILE – UNICEF - JUNE 2010, SARKIN YAMMA SOFUOUA, NIGER
4. Various shots, mothers and babies
1 FEBRUARY 2011, UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK CITY
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund:
“To put into the global context that the issue of population is not only about growth in some parts, it’s also about the shrinking population and it needs to renew so that productivity can also be assured. If you don’t have a young population, productivity and economic growth might be difficult.”
FILE - UNICEF - 28 MAY 2010, ORISSA STATE, INDIA
6. Various shots, mother giving birth to a healthy baby boy
7. Med shot, a nurse carrying the new born into a cradle
8. Med shot, mother with her baby
1 FEBRUARY 2011, UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK CITY
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund:
“Every woman or man has the right to choice and every family should be able to choose without coercion how many children they want to have and space them accordingly. And in every country context, it is important for us to educate families about the ability to have how many they can afford and what resources are available to them. So they make choices freely and with dignity.”
FILE – UNFPA - 6 - 11 JULY 2009, PHILIPPINES
10. Med shot, midwife examining a pregnant woman
11. Med shot, children
12. Various shots, family planning posters and health fair
1 FEBRUARY 2011, UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK CITY
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund:
“I don’t think there is any country in the world that would want to see its women die or want to see children not survive or that would want to continue poverty in terms of going beyond the capacity of the economy. It’s about engagement and the rules of engagement and the way you engage to show that you can respect people’s spaces and their circumstances.”
14. Zoom in, Osotimehin at speakers’ podium during UNDP/ UNFPA Executive Board meeting
The United Nations (UN) Population Fund’s (UNFPA) Executive Director Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, today (1 February) put forth his vision as the Fund’s leader, focusing on the challenges of a world population of seven billion and the needs of the largest generation of young people.
In his first address to the UN Development Programme (UNDP)/UNFPA Executive Board, Dr. Osotimehin said that a world population of seven billion in 2011 “is marked by new dynamics to which UNFPA must support countries to respond.”
He added that some of the defining features of the population growth are “rapid urban growth in Africa and Asia” with “Africa home to the highest birth rates, unprecedented ageing, and the world’s largest youth population.”
According to UNFPA, in sub-Saharan Africa, the population has grown from 275 million in the late 1960s to about 840 million today and continues to increase by about 20 million per year. The region has the world's highest fertility, with a regional total fertility rate of about 5.1 lifetime births per woman. The UN Population Division forecasts a population of 1.8 billion in 2050.
In an interview with UNifeed following the Executive Board meeting, Dr. Osotimehin, who took up office as UNFPA’s fourth Executive Director this year, explained that “the issue of population is not only about growth in some parts, it’s also about the shrinking population.”
The UN Population Division reported that during the next 45 years, the number of persons in the world aged 60 years or older is expected to almost triple, increasing from 672 million people in 2005 to nearly 1.9 billion by 2050. Today 60 per cent of older persons live in developing countries and by 2050 that proportion will increase to 80 per cent.
Dr. Osotimehin added that without a young population “productivity and economic growth might be difficult.”
Earlier today at the Executive Board meeting, he stressed that investing in youth, reproductive health and gender equality can help put countries on a path to accelerated economic growth and equitable development.
In populous countries like India, one of the six fastest growing economies in the world, UNFPA plays a lead role in providing technical assistance on key reproductive health issues and participates in national program review processes.
On family planning, Dr. Osotimehin said “every woman or man has the right to choice and every family should be able to choose without coercion how many children they want to have and space them accordingly.”
He added that the key is to “educate families about the ability to have how many they can afford and what resources are available to them.”
Although family planning is widely practiced in Asia, it still remains controversial in countries like the Philippines. Out of 3.4 million pregnancies in the country in 2008, 1.9 million were unplanned. About 11 women die daily from preventable causes during pregnancy and childbirth, according to government estimates, and family planning could help reduce these deaths by one third.
When asked whether there are any particular countries or regions more challenging than others to work with, he said that he doesn’t think “there is any country in the world that would want to see its women die or want to see children not survive or that would want to continue poverty.”
“It’s about engagement and the rules of engagement and the way you engage to show that you can respect people’s spaces and their circumstances,” he added.
Dr. Osotimehin started his four-year tenure at UNFPA a few weeks ago. Prior to his current appointment, he served as the Minister of Health of Nigeria and was the Director-General of the Nigerian National Agency for the Control of AIDS, which coordinates all HIV and AIDS work in a country of more than 150 million people.
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