Population Council Research that makes a difference

Radio PSA scripts and recordings are available on these topics:

• Child marriage
• Child mortality
• Children orphaned or made vulnerable by HIV and AIDS
• Female genital mutilation/cutting
• HIV and AIDS
• HIV and AIDS: Stigma and discrimination
• Schooling
• Sexually transmitted infections

Print PSAs are available as 8.5" x 11" PDFs

For additional information about using a Population Council public service announcement (PSA), please contact media@popcouncil.org.

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Child marriage (voice credit: Maya Vaughan-Smith)

• Length: 15 seconds
  Script: The Population Council is investigating ways to better the lives of girls in developing countries. Population Council programs aim to reduce child marriage and girls' social isolation, while allowing them to continue their education. For more information, visit popcouncil.org/now. (listen)
• Length: 30 seconds
  Script: The Population Council is investigating ways to better the lives of girls in developing countries. Our research shows that adolescent girls in many developing countries—unlike adolescent boys—lead constrained, isolated lives that are filled with heavy domestic labor. These girls lack education and friendship. Population Council programs aim to reduce child marriage and girls' social isolation, while allowing them to continue their education. For more information, visit popcouncil.org/now. (listen)
• Length: 60 seconds
  Script: If current trends continue, in the next decade 100 million girls will marry before their childhood has ended. Married girls are at increased risk for domestic violence, coerced sex, and, in some cases, HIV infection. These girls—unlike adolescent boys—lead constrained, isolated lives that are filled with heavy domestic labor. They lack education and friendship. Early age at marriage and early departure from school are byproducts of the same underlying socioeconomic conditions—poverty, low status, and social customs and beliefs that disempower girls and women. The Population Council and its partners are investigating ways to better girls' lives and reduce child marriage by ensuring safe places for girls to gather with friends and mentors. There they learn the skills they need to assure their rights, their health, and their livelihoods. For more information, visit popcouncil.org/now. Population Council: Research that makes a difference (listen)

Child mortality (voice credit: Jared Stamm)

• Length:15 seconds
  Script: The Population Council investigates sustainable methods of reducing infant and child mortality in the developing world and conducts other research to find ways of improving people's lives and health. For more information, visit popcouncil.org/now. (listen)
• Length: 30 seconds
  Script: The Population Council investigates sustainable methods of reducing infant and child mortality in the developing world. We have shown that in rural Ghana child mortality can be significantly reduced by the introduction of mobile nurses who deliver basic health services, such as immunizations and medications, door-to-door. This program is now being scaled up across Ghana. For more information, visit popcouncil.org/now. Population Council: Research that makes a difference (listen)
• Length: 60 seconds
  Script: Children born in sub-Saharan Africa are twenty-five times more likely to die before their fifth birthday than children born in the United States. Researchers at the Population Council teamed with scientists in rural northern Ghana to investigate sustainable methods of reducing infant and child mortality. The team designed and evaluated an innovative, cost-effective program in which community nurses make home visits to deliver basic health services, such as immunizations and medications. The experiment succeeded in reducing deaths among children less than 5 years old by two-thirds in eight years. A two-thirds reduction of mortality among children under age 5 by the year 2015 is one of the eight Millennium Development Goals set by the United Nations in 2000. The Population Council's program reached this goal in virtually half that target's timeline. For more information, visit popcouncil.org/now. Population Council: Research that makes a difference (listen)

Children orphaned or made vulnerable by HIV and AIDS (voice credit: Jared Stamm)

• Length: 15 seconds
  Script: More than 15 million children have lost one or both parents to AIDS. The Population Council develops and evaluates innovative programs to support children affected or orphaned by HIV and AIDS. For more information, visit popcouncil.org/now. (listen)
• Length: 30 seconds
  Script: More than 15 million children have lost one or both parents to AIDS. By 2010, researchers predict that the parents of 25 million children will have died. In addition to the poverty, emotional devastation, and other hardships brought by losing one's parents, orphanhood confers risk for unsafe sexual behaviors. The Population Council develops and evaluates innovative, sustainable programs to support children affected or orphaned by HIV and AIDS. For more information, visit popcouncil.org/now. (listen)
• Length: 60 seconds
  Script: More than 15 million children have lost one or both parents to AIDS. By 2010, researchers predict that the parents of 25 million children will have died. In sub-Saharan Africa, approximately 9 percent of children under the age of 15 have lost at least one parent to AIDS, and one in six households with children is caring for at least one orphan. These orphans are often forced to leave school, find work, and sometimes to care for younger siblings or head a family. In addition to the poverty, emotional devastation, and other hardships brought by losing one's parents, orphanhood confers risk for unsafe sexual behaviors. The Population Council develops and evaluates innovative, sustainable programs to support children affected or orphaned by HIV and AIDS. For more information, visit popcouncil.org/now. Population Council: Research that makes a difference (listen)

Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C)

• Length: 15 seconds
  Script: The Population Council documents the geographic extent of female genital cutting, the types of cutting that take place, and resulting complications. We also design and evaluate programs to end this practice. For more information, visit popcouncil.org/now.
• Length: 30 seconds
  Script: The Population Council documents the geographic extent of female genital cutting, the types of cutting that take place, and resulting complications. We are working with Islamic scholars in Kenya to understand the religious beliefs underlying female genital cutting, with the aim of designing, implementing, and evaluating programs to encourage the abandonment of this practice and to improve management of complications associated with it. For more information, visit popcouncil.org/now.
• Length: 60 seconds
  Script: Each year, two million girls undergo female genital cutting, which involves the cutting, removal, and sometimes the sewing up of the external female genitalia for cultural or other nontherapeutic reasons. Usually these girls are between four and fourteen years old. Complications, including death, are common. The Population Council documents the geographic extent of female genital cutting, the types of cutting that take place, and resulting complications. Our research includes working with Islamic scholars to understand the mistaken religious beliefs underlying female genital cutting. We are working to design, implement, and evaluate programs to encourage the abandonment of this practice and to improve management of complications associated with it, including psychological trauma, difficulties during childbirth, gynecological problems, and death. For more information, visit popcouncil.org/now. Population Council: Research that makes a difference

HIV and AIDS

• Length: 15 seconds
  Script: The Population Council develops innovative strategies to prevent HIV transmission, deliver care, and lessen the effects of AIDS throughout the world. For more information, visit popcouncil.org/now. Population Council: Research that makes a difference.

HIV and AIDS: Stigma and discrimination (voice credit: Jared Stamm)

• Length: 15 seconds
  Script: Fears about family rejection, job loss, and public shunning impede the effectiveness of HIV and AIDS prevention and care efforts. The Population Council is investigating ways of reducing the stigma of HIV infection. For more information, visit popcouncil.org/now. (listen)
• Length: 30 seconds
  Script: Fears about family rejection, job loss, and public shunning impede the effectiveness of HIV and AIDS prevention and care efforts. Stigma and discrimination discourage those with HIV from seeking needed services because seeking services may reveal their HIV status. The Population Council is investigating ways of reducing the stigma of HIV infection by providing information in workplaces, schools, and on the media about modes of HIV transmission. For more information, visit popcouncil.org/now. (listen)
• Length: 60 seconds
  Script: Fears about family rejection, job loss, and public shunning impede the effectiveness of HIV and AIDS prevention and care efforts. Stigma and discrimination discourage those who are infected with and affected by HIV from seeking needed services because seeking services may reveal their HIV status. Ideas about the lifestyles of people living with HIV contribute to a sense that HIV and AIDS are problems that affect "others." This may reduce the motivation of some people to take preventive measures against the virus, thus increasing their risk. The Population Council is investigating ways of reducing the stigma of HIV infection by providing information in workplaces, schools, and on the media about modes of HIV transmission, by counseling individuals, and by increasing the opportunities for contact with people living with HIV and AIDS. For more information, visit popcouncil.org/now. Population Council: Research that makes a difference (listen)

Schooling (voice credit: Jared Stamm)

• Length: 15 seconds
  Script: In many developing-country schools, gender inequities result in girls dropping out. Population Council research and resulting programs are helping girls stay in school, improve their opportunities, and delay marriage. For more information, visit popcouncil.org/now. (listen)
• Length: 30 seconds
  Script: Education, particularly women's education, improves health, life expectancy, and economic development, while it reduces child marriage and child pregnancy. But Population Council studies have shown that gender inequities in many developing-country schools lead girls to drop out. Population Council research and resulting programs are helping girls stay in school, improve their opportunities, and delay marriage. For more information, visit popcouncil.org/now. Population Council: Research that makes a difference (listen)
• Length: 60 seconds
  Script: Education, particularly women's education, provides substantial health and social benefits. It improves health, life expectancy, and economic development, while it reduces child marriage and child pregnancy. Formal schools are the primary setting in which most young people acquire the productive skills needed for adulthood. In addition, the school is the most important institution outside the family involved in socializing young people into all dimensions of adult roles and responsibilities. Researchers at the Population Council have found that in addition to socioeconomic factors that cause children to leave school early, gender inequities in some developing-country schools lead children, particularly girls, to drop out. The Population Council has established pilot scholarship and livelihoods programs designed to help girls stay in school, improve their opportunities, and delay marriage. For more information, visit popcouncil.org/now. Population Council: Research that makes a difference (listen)

Sexually transmitted infections (voice credit: Maya Vaughan-Smith)

• Length: 15 seconds
  Script: Sexually transmitted infections are a major cause of illness, infertility, disability, and death. The Population Council is exploring cost-effective ways for new and existing technologies to prevent, detect, and treat these infections. For more information, visit popcouncil.org/now. (listen)
• Length: 30 seconds
  Script: Sexually transmitted infections, called STIs, are a major cause of illness, infertility, disability, and death. People with STIs have a greatly increased risk of contracting HIV, due to ulcerations and other tissue changes caused by these infections. The Population Council is exploring cost-effective ways to use new and existing technologies to prevent, detect, and treat STIs. For more information, visit popcouncil.org/now. Population Council: Research that makes a difference (listen)
• Length: 60 seconds
  Script: Sexually transmitted infections, called STIs, are a major cause of illness, infertility, disability, and death. Globally, new cases of syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, and trichomoniasis number 340 million each year. People with STIs have a greatly increased risk of contracting HIV, due to ulcerations and other tissue changes caused by these infections. The Population Council is exploring cost-effective ways to use new and existing technologies to prevent, detect, and treat STIs. We are evaluating the introduction of a rapid syphilis test into antenatal care services to diagnose maternal syphilis and prevent congenital syphilis. We are exploring the use of self- and home-sampling to reduce barriers to diagnosing STIs in women. And we are testing the use of the latex diaphragm to reduce bacterial STIs among high-risk populations. For more information, visit popcouncil.org/now. Population Council: Research that makes a difference (listen)

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Downloadable print PSAs include the following text. PDFs are 8.5" x 11".

• Last year, 640,000 children were newly infected with HIV, most of them at birth or while breastfeeding. The Population Council works to identify cost-effective ways of providing services to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV. (PDF)
• One billion adolescents will start their productive and reproductive lives in the next decade. The Population Council provides evidence-based solutions to improve their reproductive health and general well-being. (PDF)
• Fifteen million children have lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS. By 2010, parents of 25 million children will have died. The Population Council develops and evaluates innovative strategies to support children affected by AIDS. (PDF)

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