This month the Population Council welcomed Michelle J. Hindin as the new Program Director for the Reproductive Health, completing the leadership of the Council’s new Social and Behavioral Science division.
Today, there is widespread recognition that gender-based violence (GBV) is a human rights violation and pervasive global health challenge with many consequences for women and girls including physical injury, psychological trauma, unwanted pregnancy, and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.
This week the Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health announced 40 new winners of 120 Under 40’s New Generation of Family Planning Leaders project, including four outstanding Population Council colleagues representing Cambodia, Pakistan, and the United States.
Each day, approximately 4600 people around the world are newly infected with HIV, and more than 2500 die of HIV related causes each year.1 Substantial progress has been made to combat the epidemic, but the need for rigorous research and scientific breakthrough to achieve an AIDS-free world has never been more pressing.
Five years after the historic London Summit in 2012, the Population Council joined policymakers, donors, and advocates from around the world as they renewed their commitments and reviewed progress toward the Family Planning 2020 goals to ensure more women and girls around the world can plan their families and their futures. At the end of the week, more than 60 countries, private companies, and partner organizations committed to accelerating progress for family planning.
The Population Council produces two high-impact peer-reviewed journals: Population and Development Review (PDR) and Studies in Family Planning (SFP). Over the next few weeks, we are highlighting the top 10 most downloaded articles of 2016 for each journal. The topics explored in these papers highlight the diversity of research published in both journals on critical global health and development issues. PDR authors investigated population-related questions and policies on immigration, gender, family, marriage, fertility, and mortality. In Studies, researchers examined trends in unintended pregnancies, abortion, and contraceptive use; the evolution of China’s one-child policy; the effects of Haiti’s earthquake on women’s reproductive options, and more.
The Population Council congratulates Board member Kaye Wellings for her conferment as a Fellow of the UK Academy of Social Sciences. As a Fellow, Professor Wellings joins a distinguished body of over 1,100 academics and practitioners who have made significant contributions to social science.
The Population Council congratulates Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus for his election as the new Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO). Dr. Tedros served as Ethiopia’s Minister of Health (2005-2012) and Minister of Foreign Affairs (2012-2016). He will become the first person from Africa to lead the agency.
Kenya was among the countries honored last week during the World Health Organization's annual World Health Assembly for its contributions to enhancing respectful maternity care. The celebration, hosted by the East, Central and Southern African Health Community, followed years of research, partnership, and advocacy spearheaded by the Population Council.
On May 22, 2017, the Population Council will continue its long-standing commitment to reducing preventable maternal deaths from hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, including pre-eclampsia and eclampsia, by co-sponsoring the first-ever World Preeclampsia Day.
