<p>Today as we commemorate the International Day of Families, the focus is on “Families and Persons with Disabilities”.</p>

<p align="left">It gives me great pleasure and deep honour to address this historic 60th session of the World Health Assembly with the focus on international health security.</p>

<p align="left" class="bodytext">Today on the International Day of the Midwife, UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, pays tribute to midwives around the world. We join others in voicing our appreciation for the loving care these skilled health workers provide. And we call for urgent action to address the shortage of midwives in many countries.</p>

It is important that we continue to move forward with the collective wisdom that population and development is about people of all ages and supporting them, throughout their life cycle, to improve their lives, reach their full potential and realize their human rights.

<p align="left">One woman dies every minute during pregnancy or childbirth, adding up to more than half a million dead women each year, said UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid. “And this is just the tip of the iceberg,” she remarked in her statement for World Health Day, 7 April. “For every woman who dies, there are 20 to 30 others who survive childbirth but suffer debilitating injuries.”</p>

<p align="left">No matter where a girl is born, she should live free of discrimination and violence. Every girl and woman should enjoy equal opportunity and equal rights.</p>

<p align="left" class="bodytext">It is my pleasure to address the opening of this fifty-first session of the Commission on the Status of Women, especially in the presence of the Deputy Secretary-General, with whom we senior officials of the United Nations, commit ourselves to work to ensure that all of us are held accountable for our gender goals.</p>

<p align="left" class="bodytext">Today, UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, joins people around the world in calling for an end to female genital mutilation or cutting.</p>

<p align="left">Today, as we commemorate International Migrants’ Day, we acknowledge the millions of brave men, women and children—an estimated 195 million worldwide, more than 3 per cent of the population—who have left their homelands in search of better lives.</p>

<p align="left">Today on the International Day of Disabled Persons, UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, calls for action to protect their human rights.</p>

<p align="left">Today on World AIDS Day, it is time to take stronger action to prevent new cases of HIV infection and meet the needs and protect the human rights of people living with HIV /AIDS.</p>

<p align="left">Every woman and girl should live in a home where she is free from the threat of violence.</p>