Ashgabat, 28 July 2010 – Mr. Jan Sand Sorensen, UNFPA Representative in Uzbekistan and Country Director ad interim for Turkmenistan and Tajikistan has completed his weeklong visit to Turkmenistan from 21-28 July 2010.

The purpose of Mr. Sorensen’s visit was to familiarize with the implementation of the UNFPA country programme for Turkmenistan, to strengthen the policy dialogue with the Government of Turkmenistan and advocate UNFPA mandate among national counterparts.

Mr. Jan Sand Sorensen visited Dashoguz province on 22-23 July to get acquainted with the health care services provided in Reproductive Health and safe motherhood areas in the province at the primary and secondary levels as well as health reforms implemented at different levels of the health system. He held a number of meetings with heads of hospitals, maternity and prenatal departments of the province. During the meetings in Dashoguz, UNFPA country program priorities for 2010-2015 in the area of safe motherhood and reproductive health and rights were discussed.

Mr. Sorensen also met with the Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan, Minister of Education, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Health and Medical Industry, as well as with the heads of the State Statistics Committee, the National Institute of Democracy and Human Rights, Institute of Strategic Planning and Economic Development and the Scientific Clinical Center of Maternity and Child Health. During meetings fruitful results of successful long-term cooperation with the major national partners were noted, and new priorities within the new programme cycle were reviewed in the areas of reproductive health and rights, population and development, and gender equality.

A joint meeting was also arranged with the Heads of UN Agencies to discuss UN system-wide cooperation for advancing the UN reform.

Mr. Sorensen comes into the region with extensive professional experience within the UN system. During his career he performed as UN Resident Coordinator/UNDP Resident Representative in Latvia (1997-2002), Guyana (2003-2004) and Romania (2008-2010), in which capacities he also served as UNFPA Representative. Mr. Sorensen also has a significantly long career history with the International Labor Organization (ILO) having served in various capacities: starting from Programme Officer (1983) to Senior Policy Advisor (2005). Before his UN career he served in the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was a lecturer at universities in the United States and Denmark. He is currently based in the UNFPA Country Office in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

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UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is an international development agency that promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. UNFPA supports countries in using population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect. UNFPA -- because everyone counts.

For more information, please contact:

Jennet Appova, Assistant Representative
Tel.: +99312-425250
Web: http://turkmenistan.unfpa.org