Michelle Bachelet: Under-Secretary-General of UN Women
Michelle Bachelet, the newly appointed Under-Secretary-General of the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (known as UN Women), has been a long-time advocate for the rights of women and girls.
As the former president of Chile, she represents the achievements of women in Latin America and the Caribbean and has had success bringing forth policies to improve reproductive health and rights and decrease domestic violence. These will continue to be top priorities on her agenda in the new agency.
Ms Bachelet brings to this critical position a history of dynamic leadership and highly honed political skills. She finished her presidency in March 2010 with an 84 per cent approval rating, a level never before attained by a Chilean president.
A physician and surgeon, Ms Bachelet also brings medical expertise to her role. She trained in medicine in Chile and in East Germany.
Ms Bachelet is known for her commitment to maternal, newborn and child health related development goals time and time again. She played an integral role promoting accountability from governments at the September 2009 MNCH event at the UN in New York convened by The Partnership in conjunction with the Taskforce on Innovative International Financing for Health Systems. A year earlier she had launched a regional initiative "Actuemos Ya por las mujeres y los niños", which brought together several Latin American countries to discuss next steps in their cooperation to save maternal and child lives. The initiative focuses on the sharing of best practices in MNCH implementation and increasing human resources capacity for MNCH.
Related links
- UN Press Release: Secretary-General Appoints Chilean former President, Michelle Bachelet as Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations UN Women
- New Under-Secretary-General of UN Women to attend Partners’ Forum
- Latin countries and Chile’s leader renew commitment to saving lives
- "Actuemos Ya por las Mujeres y los Niños” - press release