Following consultations with the Executive Board of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Secretary-General is pleased to reappoint Dr. Natalia Kanem (Panama) as Executive Director of UNFPA for a second term of four years.

Dr. Kanem joined UNFPA in 2014 as UNFPA Country Representative in the United Republic of Tanzania.  In 2016, she was named Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director (Programme), before being appointed Executive Director in October 2017, bringing more than 30 years of strategic leadership experience in the fields of preventive medicine, public and reproductive health, social justice and philanthropy to the role.

The Secretary-General notes his appreciation of UNFPA’s powerful advocacy to advance the sexual and reproductive health and rights agenda, to address population dynamics, and to empower youth, as well as UNFPA’s focus on accountability and effective management, and its commitment to delivering transformative results in both development and humanitarian settings to end the unmet need for contraception, end preventable maternal deaths and end gender-based violence in all its forms.  The Secretary-General looks forward to furthering this work, together with UNFPA and partners, and with urgency towards the 2030 deadline.