Former Barbadian official and family NGO receive UN Population Award

A former deputy prime minister from Barbados and the non-governmental organization (NGO) Family Care International received the United Nations Population Award today.

Dame Billie Antoinette Miller and the New-York based Family Care International were recognized for their “outstanding work in contributing to population and development issues, and in improving the health of individuals.”

Ms. Miller was the first woman to serve as a minister in her home country and made a powerful speech for gender equality at last year’s General Assembly, as well as chairing a major committee at the milestone International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994.

Family Care International seeks to ensure safe motherhood, promote sexual and reproductive health for adolescents, and to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, working out of eight field offices in Africa and South America.

Presenting the awards, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information Kiyotaka Akasaka said: “Both have made significant contributions to providing life-saving information and services to individuals. Thanks to their efforts, countless people have been able to plan pregnancies, avoid recourse to unsafe abortion, practice responsible sexual behaviour, and prevent the spread of HIV.”

The recipients were selected by the UN Population Award Committee – comprisig 10 Member States – which is administered by the UN Population Fund (<"http://www.unfpa.org/news/news.cfm?ID=1131">UNFPA).

The awards were presented today at a ceremony at UN headquarters in New York.