Nafis Sadik, the Pakistani doctor who championed women’s health and rights and led the breakthrough action plan adopted by 179 countries at the 1994 United Nations population conference in Cairo, has died. 

The news of her death was announced by her son, Omar Sadik, who said Ms Sadik died of natural causes at her home in New York on Sunday night. 

“We are profoundly saddened to learn of the death of Dr Nafis Sadik, former @UNFPA Executive Director. We extend sincere condolences to Dr Sadik’s family, the people of Pakistan and all who are mourning her loss,” The UNFPA said in a tweet. 

In June 1990, Ms Sadik was appointed as the secretary-general of the fifth UN International Conference on Population and Development in 1994, and she became the architect of its program, which acknowledged women’s rights to control their reproductive and sexual health. 

After she retired from the Population Fund in 2000, Ms Sadik served as special adviser to the secretary-general and special envoy on HIV/AIDS in Asia and the Pacific.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Sadik will be remembered: “for her significant contributions to women’s health and rights and population policies and for her tireless efforts to combat HIV/AIDS.” 

“She consistently called attention to the importance of addressing the needs of women and of involving women directly in making and carrying out development policy, which she believed was particularly important for population policies and programs,” Mr Guterres said.

Ms Sadik began her professional life as a physician, practising obstetrics and gynaecology in rural communities in Pakistan. The Pakistan government appointed her director general of the Central Family Planning Council during the 1960s. 

She served her internship in gynaecology and obstetrics at City Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. She completed further studies at Johns Hopkins University and held the post of research fellow in physiology at Queens University, Kingston, Ontario (Canada).

In 1976, Ms Sadik became the first female recipient of the Hugh Moore Award, named after a pioneer in the US credited with calling attention to the population crisis.