Babatunde Osotimehin

Babatunde Osotimehin (6 February 1949 – 4 June 2017) was a Nigerian physician, who served as Minister of Health, and in 2011 became the executive director of the United Nations Population Fund, holding the rank of Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, reappointed in August 2014 until his death. Osotimehin's interests were youth and gender, and he advocated for reproductive health and reproductive rights, particularly within the context of the HIV epidemic. One of his strengths was his reliance on data and evidence.

Early life and education

Babatunde Osotimehin was born in February 1949 in Ogun State. He attended Igbobi College between 1966 and 1971. He studied medicine at University of Ibadan, Nigeria. In 1979 he moved to the UK for a doctorate at the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom, and from 1979 to 1980 was a fellow in endocrinology at Cornell University Graduate School of Medicine, New York, United States.

Career In 1980, he returned to Nigeria and became a Professor of Clinical Pathology, the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan. He climbed the academic ladder and from 1990 to 1994 he was Provost of the College of Medicine at Ibadan.

Later in 2005, he said that the government had ordered an increase to 250,000 of the number of HIV-positive people on Nigeria's antiretroviral treatment program.

From July 2002 to March 2007 he was chairman of the National Action Committee on AIDS in Nigeria, and from 2002 to 2008, he was project manager for the World-Bank assisted HIV/AIDS Programme Development Project.

In 2005, at the 14th International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA), he was vice president.

From 2003 to 2008, he was chairman of the governing board, the Joint Regional HIV/AIDS Project in the Abidjan–Lagos Transport Corridor.

In October 2009, he pointed out that medical institutions were required by law to treat accident and gunshot victims. Refusal to give treatment could be punished by a jail term.

In December 2009, he reaffirmed the government's commitment to eliminate poliomyelitis and other childhood killer diseases.

He left the office in March 2010, when Acting President Goodluck Jonathan dissolved his cabinet.

UNFPA appointment, 2010–2017 On 19 November 2010, Osotimehin was appointed as the executive director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for a four-year term. He assumed the position on 1 January 2011 and became the organisation's fourth executive director, holding the rank of Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Young people remained his special focus at UNFPA. "We need to ensure that young people of both genders have equal participation, not only in reproductive rights and health but also within society and in the economy."

He believed humility was the key to engaging people and facilitating change, "humility to engage with the other person of the other community in such a way that they know that you respect them." Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Sciences

Selected bibliography Osotimehin wrote or contributed to many papers and several books. A selection follows: