Note to Correspondents

SPECIAL ADVISER ON MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS, JEFFREY SACHS, TO DELIVER RAFAEL SALAS MEMORIAL LECTURE AT HEADQUARTERS 4 APRIL

Jeffrey Sachs, the Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on the Millennium Development Goals, will deliver the eighth Rafael Salas Memorial Lecture, on population and development, at 4:30 p.m. Friday, 4 April, in the Trusteeship Council Chamber.  Media representatives are invited to attend.

Mr. Sachs will focus on population, reproductive health and the Millennium Development Goals.  According to Mr. Sachs, society’s shift from high mortality and high fertility rates to low mortality and fertility -– the demographic transition -– plays a fundamental role in economic development.  The evidence is overwhelming:  countries stuck in conditions of high fertility and mortality are often stuck in extreme poverty.  Speeding transition in these countries to low mortality and fertility should be a central pillar of their development strategies, if they are to meet the Millennium Development Goals of poverty alleviation.

There is broad-based evidence on how best to speed the demographic transition.  At least four components are needed:  increased coverage of health policies to reduce child mortality; extension of reproductive health and family planning services to the entire population, including the poorest families; empowerment of women, in schooling, politics, and the labour force; and trade and industrial policies to promote jobs and income growth, especially for women entering the labour force.

The Rafael Salas lecture series was initiated in 1989 in tribute to

Mr. Salas who was Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) from the Fund’s creation until his untimely death in 1987.  Under his leadership, the UNFPA grew from a small trust fund to the world’s largest multilateral provider of population assistance.

Previous speakers have included the-then Prime Minister of Norway, Gro Harlem Brundtland; former President of the Philippines, Fidel Ramos; and the former President of the World Bank, Robert McNamara.

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