The
United Nations Population
Fund (UNFPA) will strengthen cooperation with China in the
future, former UNFPA executive director
Nafis Sadik said Saturday in Beijing.
Dr. Nafis Sadik said that in addition to reproductive health and
family planning, further cooperation will cover the fields of
prevention of AIDS, aging population and cooperation between
developing countries.
Sadik is in Beijing to receive the Fourth China Population Award
for her tremendous contribution in international cooperation.
She said that without China's success in family planning, the world
would have reached a population of six billion many years
before.
"It is remarkable that although China is a developing country, its
life expectancy of about 71.8 years, its infant mortality rateof
around 31 per 1,000 and its extremely low maternal mortality rate
are consistent with the same rates that exist in technologically
advanced countries," Sadik said.
Founded in 1969, UNFPA is the world's largest organization
providing assistance to the developing countries in the field of
population. So far, it has offered US$ 4.6 billion to 168 countries
around the world.
UNFPA started cooperation with China in 1979. And from 1979 to
1994, the foundation gave China US$160 million to be used towards
the fields of reproductive health, family planning, production of
contraceptives, poverty relief, population information and
research, and population education in middle schools.
(Xinhua News
Agency January 12, 2002)