Ghulam Nabi Azad Chairs the Opening Session of International Conference on Population and Development at Dhaka

Partners in Population and Development (PPD) is an intergovernmental initiative created specifically for the purpose of expanding and improving South-to-South collaboration in the fields of reproductive health, population, and development.

PPD was launched at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), when ten developing countries from Asia, Africa and Latin America formed an intergovernmental alliance to help implement the Cairo Program of Action (POA).

PPD has presently 25 members countries committed to the implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action, willing to provide political, technical and financial support to South-South Cooperation. While there were only 10 developing countries at the time of formation of the Organization in 1994, over the years PPD’s membership has increased to 25 developing countries across Asia, Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America covering more than 57% of total world population. The PPD member countries are: Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Thailand, Viet Nam, Colombia, Mexico, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Yemen, Jordan, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Uganda, Benin, Senegal, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Nigeria.

PPD is currently chaired by Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad, Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, who has been unanimously elected to the post in the 16^th Annual Board Meeting of PPD held in Pretoria, South Africa in 2011.

Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad, Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, who is currently on an official tour to Bangladesh capital Dhaka, today participated in the opening session of the two-day International Conference on “Evidence for Action: South-South Collaboration for ICPD beyond 2014”, organized jointly by Partners in Population and Development (PPD) and the Government of People’s Republic of Bangladesh.