Former Barbados senior minister wins UN 2008 population award

BARBADOS-UNITED NATIONS- Former Barbados senior minister wins UN 2008 population award

UNITED NATIONS, New York, CMC - Former Barbados Senior Minister Dame Billie Miller has been awarded the 2008 United Nations Population Award.

The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) said Wednesday Dame Billie, who was also a former foreign affairs minister and a gender advocate, is the recipient of the award along with a New York-based non-governmental organization (NGO) that “helps to save the lives of women in developing countries.”

Dame Billie and Family Care International (FCI) were chosen from among 11 individual and seven institutional nominees from around the world, the UNFPA said.

The award is given each year to individuals and institutions for their “outstanding work in population and in improving the health and welfare of individuals,” UNFPA said.

Dame Miller, an attorney by profession, was first elected as a Member of Parliament in 1976 and was the first woman to be named minister in Barbados.

In addition to holding a numerous ministerial portfolios, including health and education, UNFPA said Miller “has been promoting population and gender issues in several capacities”.

In 2004, she was honoured by International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region for her lifelong contributions to sexual and reproductive health.

Established in New York in 1986, Family Care International has been helping to make pregnancy and childbirth safer for women in the developing world by “promoting sexual and reproductive health for adolescents and by supporting safe motherhood,” UNFPA said.

Dame Billie and Family Care International were selected by the Population Award Committee, administered by UNFPA and comprising 10 member states, elected by the UN Economic and Social Council.

The awards will be presented at UN Headquarters in New York on May 22.

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