UN awards Iranian demographer
Iran’s Muhammad-Jalal Abbasi-Shavazi has won the 2011 United Nations Population Award for his work on population and contributing to the improvement of people’s health.
The Iranian demographer, who shared the annual award with the African research institution, L'Institut de Formation et de Recherche Demographique (IFORD), will receive his prize during a ceremony at the United Nations on June 16, 2011.
Abbasi-Shavazi has been the head of the Division of Population Research at the University of Tehran since 2001 and his research is mainly focused on population and development, reproductive health and fertility, and immigration and refugees.
He has also been working as a professor, demographic researcher and advisor and has contributed to the understanding of the dynamics of Iran’s fertility decline.
Abbasi-Shavazi’s studies showed that improving women’s education and status and their access to reproductive health care has led to smaller family sizes in Iran.
The award-winning scholar got his PhD in Demography from the Australian National University and his efforts has promoted the view that social, economic and cultural differences among countries are more important than religion in explaining fertility differentials.
Abbasi-Shavazi has also connected international demographers and Iranian scholars to collaborate in studying the rapid Iranian fertility decline.
Led by Egypt’s Ambassador to the United Nations Maged A. Abdelaziz, the Award Committee consisted of 10 United Nations Member States, with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) as its secretariat.
The United Nations Economic and Social Council select countries to the Award Committee for three-year terms.
The current members of the committee are Bangladesh, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Ghana, Guatemala, Jamaica, Malaysia, Nicaragua, Norway and the United Republic of Tanzania.
The United Nations Secretary General and the UNFPA Executive Director are ex-officio members.
Source: presstv.ir
