The Population Council celebrates the life of Dr. Samuel “Sab” Koide, a giant at the Center for Biomedical Research, who died earlier this month. Koide spent nearly four decades at the Population Council helping to understand the basic science of reproduction and advance contraceptive development. Koide's discoveries and contributions to science continue to impact the field today.
It is our great honor to announce the appointment of Dr. Harriet Birungi as the Vice President of International Programs and Dr. Thoại Ngô as the Vice President of Social and Behavioral Science Research – colleagues who have been promoted to our executive leadership team following recent transitions. Harriet currently serves as Director of the Population Council’s office in Kenya and Thoại serves as Director of our Poverty, Gender and Youth program.
In a new commentary in the journal Contraception, leaders from across Population Council offices and centers for social science and biomedical research came together to call for increasing contraceptive choice and access to self-managed methods in light of challenges exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Following the horrific shooting in the U.S. city of Atlanta that killed six women of Asian descent, the Council’s Thoai Ngo authored a powerful piece in BMJ Global Health blog on the gendered and public health consequences of anti-Asian racism in America.
In a recent Knowledge Success post, Council researchers from the Evidence Project highlight lessons learned from research in Ghana on the expansion of access to DMPA-SC, an injectable contraceptive with a self-injection option. Injectables are among the most popular contraceptive methods in sub-Saharan Africa.
In a new opinion piece for Think Global Health, the Population Council’s Poverty, Gender and Youth Program Director, Thoai Ngo, with colleagues Charlotte Brasseux, Saleh Abbas and Mingqi Song, underscore that U.S. COVID-19 data remain fragmented and incomplete at national, state and city levels, leaving “the U.S. government, health officials and the public largely in the dark about how the coronavirus is infecting and killing people in their communities.”
In The Lancet Global Health, Eileen Yam, Deputy Director of Project SOAR and Associate II at the Population Council, along with colleagues from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine; the Antiracist Research and Policy Center and School of International Service at American University; the Ralph Bunche International Affairs Center at Howard University; and the Center for the Study of Racism, Social Justice and Health in the Jonathan and Karin Fielding School of Public Health at the University of California at Los Angeles; authored a commentary calling upon their peers within the global health sector to meaningfully engage with critical race theory and move beyond a one-dimensional, “colour-blind gender lens.”
The Population Council applauds the recent executive action of the United States (U.S.) Government to rescind the Mexico City Policy, to resume funding to the United Nations Population Foundation (UNFPA), and to restore the U.S.’s relationship with the World Health Organization (WHO). These are essential steps toward advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) globally.
In a Brookings Education Plus Development blog, Council Senior Associate Karen Austrian and GIRL Center Director Stephanie Psaki remind us that while the world has changed dramatically over the last 10 months due to COVID-19, it is critical that we not neglect the fundamentals and what we already know works to address gender-related barriers to education.
In Knowledge Success, Council researcher Leanne Dougherty co-authors a piece discussing the growing popularity of social media, an important resource for gathering information about health and social norms.
