In an op-ed for Think Global Health, Thoai Ngo, Program Director for the Council’s Poverty, Gender & Youth Program, and graduate intern Charlotte Brasseux, MPH candidate at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, call for a more structured, uniform, and comprehensive approach to collect, report, and analyze COVID-19 data in the U.S.

India now ranks 3rd in the world with the highest number of daily COVID-19 cases.  New Population Council research published in The Lancet Global Health presents a vulnerability index for the management of and response to the COVID-19 epidemic in India, with analyses to the district level. The much-needed index is assisting government efforts to prioritize resource allocation and risk mitigation for those most vulnerable.

In a blog post for the Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI), Council researchers Chi-Chi Undie, Sanyukta Mathur, Nicole Haberland, Isabel Vieitez, and Julie Pulerwitz highlight the tension between the need to gather data to support women facing unprecedented vulnerability in the COVID-19 pandemic, and the reality that the very act of data collection may heighten risk. They also present opportunities for ethical sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) data collection during the pandemic.

In a newly published op-ed in Think Global Health, Council Program Director Thoai Ngo underscores the importance of a United States national response to the COVID-19 pandemic that addresses persistent health and economic inequalities faced by Black and Latinx communities.

In a newly published commentary in Global Public Health titled “Men and COVID-19: Adding a gender lens”, Council researchers Julie Pulerwitz and Ann Gottert, along with colleagues from Jhpiego, the Institute for Reproductive Health at Georgetown University Medical Center and the Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs, highlight the unique challenges of the pandemic on men and the potential of strategies in engaging them to address COVID-19-related threats to women’s health and wellbeing.

As the number of positive COVID-19 cases and deaths climb in Bangladesh, Sajeda Amin—a researcher and demographer known for her work on child marriage—shared her perspective in a commentary published in Netra News on the disproportionate burden of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic on Bangladeshi women and girls. In the piece, she calls on the world to recognize that women and girls are especially vulnerable to this pandemic and the conditions of these unprecedented times, but also have the potential to help support effective response strategies.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to reshape our lives and health systems, Council Program Director Thoai Ngo and President of Ibis Reproductive Health Kelly Blanchard share their views on abortion care during these unprecedented times in an opinion piece for Thomson Reuters Foundation News. Citing two new evidence reviews on women’s ability to manage abortions with safe and effective medicines during early pregnancy, the authors support self-managed abortion during – and after – this pandemic as a method that puts less strain on health systems and allows women access who might be hampered by isolation and distancing mandated in response to COVID-19.

The life and legacy of Dr. C. Wayne Bardin, former director of the Population Council’s Center for Biomedical Research (CBR) and chairman of the International Committee for Contraception Research at the Population Council, was honored at the New York Times. James Sailer, CBR’s current Executive Director, spoke about Dr. Bardin’s groundbreaking work.

In a video at Bloomberg's Tic Toc, Jim Sailer, Executive Director of the Population Council's Center for Biomedical Research (CBR), explains how the Council's Nestorone®/Testosterone (NES/T) transdermal male contraceptive gel works and speaks about the importance of gender equality in preventing pregnancy.

The Population Council has been conducting high-quality research to determine what works and what doesn’t work to empower girls and prevent child marriage for years. That expertise and our research in Ethiopia took center stage in a BBC World Service feature, in a featured piece at Voice of America, and in a blog post featuring Malala Yousafzai and her girls’ education advocacy organization, the Malala Fund.