Last week, the Population Council and colleagues who play critical roles in providing contraceptives and other reproductive health supplies convened in Kathmandu, Nepal at the 19th Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition Membership Meeting. Members discussed and shared the latest updated on efforts to ensure that all people in low- and middle-income countries can access and use affordable, high-quality supplies to ensure their better reproductive health.

Read on for a summary of recommendations around the introduction of a vaginal contraceptive ring for breast-feeding women in Nigeria that the Population Council and partners shared during sessions throughout the meeting.

A new feature at The Telegraph explores the limitations and constraints of Egypt’s “Two is Enough,” campaign, which aims to slow down rapid population growth in Egypt.

A new feature on NPR’s Goats & Soda health and development blog explores the current state of the fight to end female genital mutilation (FGM/C) and cutting across the globe.

The Population Council and partners are expanding the implementation of Biruh Tesfa, an evidence-based program conceptualized by the Population Council to reduce the social isolation of vulnerable girls in urban Ethiopia, to reach girls living in forced domestic servitude, girls who are trafficked, as well as girls living with disabilities in Ethiopia.

In a live radio interview with KUMD-FM in Duluth, Minnesota, Senior Associate and enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation Kelly Hallman speaks about IMAGEN – the Indigenous Adolescent Girls’ Empowerment Network – a new evidenced-based, scalable program in the United Stated designed to address the realities of excluded Native American girls and young women in the US.

In a Q&A with Health Decisions, the Council’s Dr. Régine Sitruk-Ware shared insights on how contraceptive care is evolving to meet the needs of both men and women. 

At the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Council researchers and Miriam Temin, Sajeda Amin, Thoai Ngo, and Stephanie Psaki unveiled a practical framework for designing and implementing programs that center around girls’ diverse needs, address multiple determinants of risk, and empower girls and improve their lives.

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.