In an op-ed at Ms. Magazine, Population Council President Julia Bunting shares why convenience in contraception is no trivial matter for women, and why the Council’s newly-FDA-approved contraceptive may be a game-changer for some.

Population Council research on birth and abortion rates in Pakistan was featured in National Public Radio’s syndicated news program "Morning Edition.”

Much-anticipated results from the first in-human clinical trials of griffithsin, a naturally occurring anti-HIV protein, were presented at the HIV Research for Prevention (HIV R4P) conference in Madrid this October.  These results, and research to date, suggest that it may be possible to formulate an on-demand user-controlled technology to prevent HIV and other STIs with limited risk of cross resistance.

We asked Tom Zydowsky, director of biomedical research and pharmaceutical development in the HIV and AIDS program at the Population Council’s Center for Biomedical Research (CBR) a few questions about griffithsin and its potential as a non-antiretroviral microbicide.

(November 28, 2018) NEW YORK, NY – The Population Council, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute, and University of Washington School of Medicine today announced the launch of the first clinical trial to test the safety and efficacy of a gel for men to prevent unintended pregnancy. Three trial sites in the U.S. are now enrolling couples.

The Population Council is pleased to welcome Dr. Nyovani Madise to the Board of Trustees. Known for her research on the social determinants of sexual and reproductive health and rights in low- and middle-income countries, Madise is currently Director of Research and Development Policy for the African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP) based in Malawi. AFIDEP aims to make evidence matter in policy and decision making in Africa, translating research into forms that are accessible to policy makers, government officers and members of parliament.

In its round-up of the of the International Conference on Family Planning Kigali, Rwanda, Devex cited two of the Council’s contraceptive innovations as major highlights of the 2018 conference.

This week, more than 40 Population Council staff from 12 countries are presenting research finding that advances access to quality family planning services and products at the International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP) in Kigali, Rwanda. Co-hosted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health and the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Rwanda, ICFP 2018 is bringing together thousands from the family planning community to share best practices, celebrate successes, and chart a course forward. 

NEW YORK, NEW YORK (November 14, 2018)  ̶  The Population Council has received initial funding from the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) to assess the feasibility of combining oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention with an oral contraceptive into a single pill, which women would take once a day.

In response to a New York Times editorial by columnist Ross Douthat, Population Council Vice President and Distinguished Scholar John Bongaarts pens a letter to the editor promoting women's ability to plan their own futures and the work of international family planning organizations to help make that possible.

October 24, 2018 -- Population Council researchers presented new evidence on promising biomedical and behavioral strategies to prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted infections at the HIV Research for Prevention (HIVR4P) conference in Madrid this week, the world’s only scientific meeting dedicated exclusively to biomedical HIV prevention.