Who we are

Who We Are

UNFPA Global

UNFPA is the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency. Our mission is to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled.

We promote gender equality and empower women, girls and young people to take control of their bodies and their futures. We work with partners in more than 150 countries to provide access to a wide range of sexual and reproductive health services, with the goal of ending unmet need for family planning, preventable maternal death and gender-based violence and harmful practices including child marriage female genital mutilation by 2030.

Our moto is "Ensuring rights and choices for all"

UNFPA in CO

UNFPA works in more than 150 countries and territories that are home to the vast majority of the world’s people. Its mission: to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.

Leadership

Executive Director

Dr. Natalia Kanem

In a career spanning over three decades, Dr. Natalia Kanem has dedicated her life to improving the health and lives of women and children by championing their rights and choices. She leverages her combined expertise in science, public health and philanthropy to advance the reproductive health and rights of women and girls, and to uphold the human dignity of all.

As United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, Dr. Kanem oversees its life-saving policy, development and humanitarian work in over 120 countries, with the aim of assuring that ‘every pregnancy is intended, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.’

Country Representative

Dr. Mary Otieno

Dr. Mary Otieno is the UNFPA Somalia Representative, ai effective 24 March, 2024. She retired in October, 2023, after 18 years of service with UNFPA, completing her tour of duty in Kampala, Uganda as the Country Representative, where she served for two years. Dr. Otieno has more than 25 years of managerial and strategic leadership, advocacy, coordination and technical expertise in reproductive health including HIV, gender-based violence, population and development, climate change and gender, and human rights at national and international levels within the UN System and with international organizations.
Read more