Population Council

Climate change is reshaping migration patterns— workers in low-skilled jobs in Pakistan are moving from agricultural areas to oil-rich countries as an adaptation strategy. Migration isn’t just a consequence; it’s a response. Learn more from our #PERCC team: https://bit.ly/4iaZ2fS

Are you attending #CIES2025? Be sure to check out the Population Council’s panels and presentations from March 23- March 26! Our Council presentations will explore: ? Research on education and girls’ participation in the care economy ? Tech use in Kenya during the COVID19 pandemic ? The impact of civil society organization (CSO) interventions in Guatemala post-COVID to close the education gap. Learn more: https://bit.ly/4inlcvZ

In Studies in Family Planning, Federica Becca, Albert Esteve, and Andrés F. Castro Torres analyzed 60 years of data on household structures & size across Latin America and the Caribbean. Their study found that while average household size decreased significantly as people are having less children, household structures remain complex as extended family members continue to live together. Read more in #SFPjournal:?https://bit.ly/3DK6SP4

The Council's Dennis Matanda will be speaking! See details below ??

The International Conference on Family Planning extended their abstracts submission deadline to April 19, 2025! The theme of this year’s conference is “Equity Through Action: Advancing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights for All.” #ICFP2025 invites abstracts in English, French, and Spanish. Find the full submission guidelines here: https://theicfp.org/

Population Council researchers piloted a digital chatbot in Nigeria to determine if a chatbot could increase awareness of #PrEP and provide accurate information on HIV prevention. The study results show that 92% of participants reported that they learned new information about HIV from the chatbot. To learn more about the feasibility and acceptability of a digital chatbot for HIV prevention, read the study here: https://bit.ly/4blPTPf

To close out our series celebrating #InternationalWomensDay, we asked Council researchers what current research they're most excited about to advance progress on women and girls' health and rights.? ? Hear how we're developing reproductive health products that expand choice for women at our #CenterForBiomedicalResearchPC, offsetting travel costs for women in Pakistan seeking health care, improving access to postpartum family planning services in Ethiopia, and utilizing technology to provide mothers with essential information on maternal care in India. #ForAllWomenAndGirls Neeharika Verma, PhD, Zeba Sathar, Tariku Shimels, Sowmya Ramesh? Population Council, Pakistan Watch ???

What a great turnout for our #CSW69 #BeijingPlus30 event Tuesday night celebrating 30 years of evidence and impact on adolescent girls! For more than three decades, the Population Council has been instrumental in shaping policies and programs to better the lives of adolescent girls around the world. ? ?? Here are 5 big takeaways from our esteemed speakers:? 1?? We must create space for change to be girl-led. Girls should set the agenda and be transformative leaders in the change they want to see. 2?? We must invest in quality data. Data is critical to make policy decisions and identify resources to support the rights of girls and young women. 3?? Married adolescents are a group of girls – even though they have taken on the roles of women – who need particular focus and are not currently being reached to the fullest. 4?? We need to focus resources and programming on geographical hot-spots that experience overlapping challenges to reach those girls most in need.?? 5?? In this moment, we cannot lose focus on the importance of a progressive movement.? ? Throughout the evening, adolescent and youth advocates, stakeholders, and governmental partners reflected on the critical need for greater investments in research and programming for adolescent girls and what needs to happen now to address current challenges. We heard remarks from?Council President Dr Rana Hajjeh, Jacqueline Bryld of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, the Council’s Senior Associate Erulkar Annabel, Modesta Joseph, Founder of Our Voices Against Harassment in Tanzania, Maureen Greenwood-Basken (She/Her), Program Director of the Global Children’s Rights Program at Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, the Honorable Dr Isata Mahoi, Minister of Gender and Children's Affairs for Sierra Leone, the Honorable Chernor Bah, Minister of Information and Civic Education for Sierra Leone (and former Council staff), and Judith Bruce, Senior Advisor to the Council. Thank you also to the many Population Council staff and alums who attended. We were happy to reunite with you all!

In celebration of #InternationalWomensDay, we asked Council researchers to share the impact of their research on advancing health and rights for women and girls around the world ??. ? ? Watch to learn more about programs to provide family planning services to factory workers in Egypt, address reproductive coercion & intimate partner violence in Kenya, create safe spaces to improve access to education, and introduce comprehensive sexuality education in schools in Zambia. ? ? #ForAllWomenAndGirls |?Nahla Abdel Tawab, Nachela Malisenti Chelwa, Beth Kangwana, Allegra Cockburn, Population Council - Kenya

The Population Council kicked off our #CSW69 #BeijingPlus30 events yesterday by bringing together researchers, practitioners and young activists. Council President Dr Rana Hajjeh and Senior Advisor Judith Bruce opened our first event focused on what really is at stake when there is governmental influence on childbearing. We heard about the impact of these policies in diverse settings, including in China, in rural America, in Eastern Europe and in Indigenous communities. Thank you to Yiping Cai of UC Irvine, Joan Kaufman of Schwarzman Scholars, Shelley Clark of McGill University, Kelly K. Hallman of Imagen, and Vladmira Kantorova of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) for their thought-provoking insights. We were also proud to host Guttmacher Institute, and IYAFP for a powerful event on the need for intergenerational partnerships as a key condition to advance sexual and reproductive, health, rights and justice. Evalin Karijo of the Council’s #GIRLCenter joined the discussion as a panelist.