Former UNFPA Executive Director, UN Under-Secretary-General (2011 - 2017)

(6 February 1949–4 June 2017) 

Appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin served as Executive Director of UNFPA from January 2011 until his death in June 2017. A physician and global leader in the areas of public health and the empowerment of women and young people, he placed a strong emphasis on promoting human rights in population and development. 

He understood that the world’s largest-ever cohort of young people were its greatest hope and that enabling them — and adolescent girls in particular — to exercise their human rights and achieve their full potential was key to sustained economic growth and sustainable development. He advocated globally for countries to seize the opportunity of the demographic dividend for accelerated development, calling for increased investment in young people’s employment, education and health, including their sexual and reproductive health.  

Dr. Osotimehin completed his medical studies at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, in 1972 and received a doctorate in medicine from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom, in 1979. He was named Professor at the University of Ibadan in 1980 and headed the Department of Clinical Pathology before being elected Provost of the College of Medicine in 1990.

Before becoming UNFPA’s Executive Director, he served as Nigeria’s Minister of Health and as the Director-General of the National Agency for the Control of HIV and AIDS, which coordinates all HIV/AIDS work in Nigeria.