EBERT PROGRAM ON CRITICAL ISSUES
IN REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
For more than 16 years, the Population Council’s Robert H. Ebert Program on Critical Issues in Reproductive Health has been pursuing innovative research strategies to address neglected or marginalized issues that affect the reproductive health and rights of women and men, particularly in the developing world. The program’s research has contributed to major advances in the understanding of reproductive and sexual health, resulting in measurable improvements in health services around the world. Some of the program’s greatest achievements have been through the introduction of new reproductive health technologies and interventions in resource-poor communities. Now the concept of a reproductive health framework as a basis for improved services is firmly in place on the international family planning, safe motherhood, and women’s health agendas, enabling work to move ahead on fully implementing improvements in health programs and practices.
The program’s research, technical assistance, and dissemination activities involve the full spectrum of reproductive health: prevention of reproductive tract infections (RTIs), including sexually transmitted infections (STIs); HIV/AIDS; expanding access to contraception, including emergency contraception; reducing the number of unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions; increasing the use of evidence-based practices to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity; examining gender-based violence (e.g., during pregnancy); and addressing men’s reproductive health concerns and their role in their partners’ reproductive health. In particular, the Ebert Program emphasizes the link between well-being and high-quality reproductive health services. With the worsening AIDS pandemic, the program has increased its focus on integrating family planning and reproductive health services into HIV/AIDS programs, including research to address the fertility intentions and contraceptive needs of HIV-positive women and men.
Areas of research include:
Click here for a full list of Ebert Program publications/resources available online or by request.
 Print this page | This page updated |
| Background |
As a Population Council trustee for 30 years and dean of the Harvard University Medical School, the late Robert H. Ebert was a stalwart proponent of women's health. He urged policymakers, program planners, and practitioners to consider family planning and reproductive health within the larger context of women’s health. The Population Council's Robert H. Ebert Program on Critical Issues in Reproductive Health was established in his honor in 1988. |