KUALA LUMPUR, June 16 — The National Population and Family Development Board (LPPKN) under the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry has appointed Parit MP Mohd Nizar Zakaria as its 11th chairman.
LPPKN made the announcement about the appointment of the Umno lawmaker as its new chairman on its Instagram page late last night.
LPPKN provides family planning services and screening for cervical cancer like pap smears, but its clinics generally do not provide unmarried women access to oral contraceptives.
Then-LPPKN chairwoman Dr Narimah Awin said in April last year that rising religious conservatism was affecting girls and women’s right to sexual and reproductive health, such as family planning, especially for young and unmarried people.
LPPKN’s director-general, Abdul Shukur Abdullah, is also a man.
It is unknown what Nizar’s views are about various sexual and reproductive health issues, such as access to birth control, abortion, and comprehensive sex education. LPPKN’s pinned tweet from January 2019, however, promotes abstinence with a “Say No 2 Zina” tagline.
Dr Narimah was appointed as LPPKN chairwoman in March 2019 until she was replaced by Nizar in June this year. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr Narimah has done major work in maternal, child and reproductive health in Malaysia and other countries. She retired as director of the Family Health Development Division in MOH in 2007 after serving the ministry for almost 30 years.
After retirement from MOH, Dr Narimah served as Regional Advisor for Maternal and Reproductive Health – at the WHO regional office for Western Pacific from February 2008 until July 2010, and at the regional office of WHO for South East Region, New Delhi, India, from August 2010 until May 2013 (upon retirement from the United Nations system).
