United Nations Population Award

The United Nations Population Award is an international award presented annually by the United Nations Population Fund to individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to population and reproductive health issues. Recipients of the award receive a medal, a diploma, and a monetary prize.

History

The award was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1981 to recognize "outstanding contributions to population and reproductive health questions and to their solutions," and was first presented in 1983.^[1]

In 1983, the inaugural presentation of the award sparked controversy. Two $12,500 awards were given to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India and China's family planning chief Qian Xinzhong, drawing criticism. Economist Theodore W. Shultz, an agency adviser, publicly condemned the awards, alleging that they disregarded expert advice and endorsed countries with aggressive population control methods. He argued that the awards could undermine family planning efforts, citing India's history of forced sterilization and China's punitive policies. The United Nations Fund defended the awards, highlighting that China had outlawed female infanticide, and no longer faced such issues in India.^[2]

Recipients

Year	Recipients	Country	Ref
1983	Indira Gandhi Qian Xinzhong	India China	[3]
1984	Carmen A. Miró Sheldon J. Segal	Panama United States	[4]
1985	International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF)	International
1986	National Population Council of Mexico	Mexico
1987	Hussain Muhammad Ershad National Family and Population Office of Tunisia	Bangladesh Tunisia
1988	Shidzue Kato PROFAMILIA	Japan Colombia
1989	Suharto Programme national de Bien-être familial of Togo	Indonesia Togo
1990	Alfred Sauvy National Family Health and Population Council of Mauritius	France Mauritius
1991	Julia J. Henderson Centre for Population Studies and Responsible Parenthood	United States Ecuador
1992	J. R. D. Tata The Population Council	India International
1993	Fred T. Sai Mainichi Shimbun Population Problems Research Council	Ghana Japan
1994	Hosni Mubarak Turkish Family Health and Planning Foundation	Egypt Turkey
1995	Halfdan Mahler Inter-African Committee on the Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children	Denmark Intercontinental
1996	Leticia Ramos Shahani Pathfinder International	Philippines International
1997	Elizabeth Aguire de Calderón Sol Toshio Kuroda Mechai Viravaidya	El Salvador Japan Thailand
1998	Hugh H. Wynter Sabiny Elders Association	Jamaica Uganda
1999	Alireza Marandi National Committee for Population and Family Planning	Iran Vietnam
2000	Ismail Awadallah Salam Fundación Mexicana para la Planeación Familiar (MEXFAM)	Egypt Mexico
2001	Nafis Sadik Japanese Organization for International Cooperation in Family Planning	Pakistan Japan
2002	Kwasi Odoi-Agyarko EngenderHealth	Ghana United States
2003	Werner Fornos Family Planning Association of Kenya	United States Kenya
2004	John C. Caldwell Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital	Australia Ethiopia
2005	Mercedes B. Concepcion Asociación Pro Bienestar de la Familia de Guatemala	Philippines Guatemala
2006	Halida Hanum Akhter Fondation Pour la Santé Reproductive et l’Education Familiale (FOSREF)	Bangladesh Haiti
2007	Allan Rosenfield Hossein Malek Afzali Le Comité National de Population of Algeria The National Population and Family Planning Board of Malaysia	United States Iran Algeria Malaysia
2008	Billie Antoinette Miller Family Care International (FCI)	Barbados United States
2009	Mahmoud Fathalla Movimiento Comunal Nicaragüense (MCN)	Egypt Nicaragua
2010	Bill Gates and Melinda Gates Asian Forum of Parliamentarians for Population and Development (AFPPD)	United States Intercontinental
2011	Mohammad Jalal Abbasi-Shavazi Institut de Formation et de Recherche Démographique (IFORD)	Iran Cameroon
2012	Adrienne Germain Federation of Reproductive Health Associations	United States Malaysia
2013	Jotham Musinguzi International Islamic Centre for Population Studies and Research	Uganda International
2014	Father Aldo Marchesini Johns Hopkins Program for International Education in Gynecology and Obstetrics	Italy United States
2015	Thoraya Obaid African Population and Health Research Centre (APHRC)	Saudi Arabia Kenya
2016	Carmen Barroso Childbirth in Dignity Foundation	Brazil Poland
2017	Hans Rosling Association of Traditional Chiefs of Niger (Association des chefs traditionnels du Niger, ACTN)	Sweden Niger
2018	Prince Ramsey Guttmacher Institute Save a Child's Heart	Antigua and Barbuda United States Israel
2019	Mamadou Tangara National Peace Hut Women of Liberia	Gambia Liberia
2022	Emma Theofelus National Population and Family Planning Board	Namibia Indonesia	[5][6]
2023	Angeline Ndayishimiye African Institute for Development Policy	Burundi Intercontinental	[7]

References

1. "United Nations Population Award". United Nations Population Fund. 2023-07-12. Retrieved 2023-09-20.
2. Nossiter, Bernard D.; Times, Special To the New York (1983-07-24). "POPULATION PRIZES FROM U.N. ASSAILED". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-09-20.
3. "United Nations Population Award to Indira Gandhi and Qian Xinzhong". Population and Development Review. 9 (4): 747–753. 1983. doi:10.2307/1973563. ISSN 0098-7921. JSTOR 1973563.
4. "Award Laureates". United Nations Population Fund.
5. "Indonesia wins UN Population Award". The Jakarta Post. Retrieved 2023-09-20.
6. "United Nations Population Award Ceremony 2022". United Nations Population Fund. Retrieved 2023-09-20.
7. "H.E. Mrs. Angeline Ndayishimiye, First Lady of Burundi, and the African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP) receive the 2023 United Nations Population Award". United Nations Population Fund. Retrieved 2023-09-21.