Shoura member wins UN Population Fund Award

Saudi Shoura Council member Thoraya Obaid has been given the United Nations Population Fund Award for 2015 in recoginition of her services in the field of health and housing. The United Nations Organization first created the award to honor distinguished efforts in the field of health and housing in 1981. In a statement issued by the Fund on the occasion of the award, it was noted that Thoraya Obaid was the first female Saudi to be dispatched on a scholarship to study in the United States, and was also the first Saudi woman to be nominated by the Kingdom's government for the presidency of an agency in the United Nations Organization. She was also one of the first women appointed to the membership of the Saudi Shoura Council in 2013. Thoraya was the executive director of the Fund during 2001-2010, and was also the director for the non-governmental organization called The African Center for Health and Housing Studies. -arabnews