An exciting, new study from the Population Council’s Kenya office and Girl Innovation, Research, and Learning (GIRL) Center tested the assumption that sanitary pads would improve girls’ education outcomes and ultimately found that distribution of sanitary pads did not in fact impact school attendance, performance, or the transition to secondary school, contrary to popular belief. However, the adolescent health education curriculum component of the intervention did indeed improve attitudes regarding reproductive health, demonstrating increased pride and comfort about menstruation, as well as enhanced knowledge of reproductive health, endorsement of equitable gender norms, and general self-confidence.   

NEW YORK, NEW YORK (September 14, 2021) – The Population Council is thrilled to announce the appointment of our colleague Dr. Karen Austrian as the Director of the Council’s Girl Innovation, Research, and Learning (GIRL) Center – a global research hub that generates, synthesizes, and translates evidence on adolescents to support investments that transform their lives, especially for girls.  

NEW YORK, NY (July 13, 2021) – Research conducted by the Population Council in Kenya and published in a new report by Kenya’s Presidential Policy and Strategy Unit (PASU) shows the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the lives of adolescent girls and boys in Kenya. The report, “Promises to Keep: Impact of COVID-19 on Adolescents in Kenya," points to the critical need for bold action to address school dropout, adolescent pregnancies, lost learning momentum, violence and other negative consequences of the pandemic on the lives of adolescents in Kenya.

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.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK (July 15, 2020) -- New Population Council research shows that the COVID-19 data being collected and reported across the United States (U.S.) is inconsistent and incomplete exposing the country’s inability to analyze and use data to guide its response. These shortcomings further restrict health officials’ ability to understand the key demographic factors that place certain populations and communities at increased risk of contracting and experiencing adverse health outcomes from COVID-19. 

The Population Council’s Girl Innovation Research and Learning Center (GIRL Center) published two new studies on global girls’ education, which challenge the long-held assumption that simply enrolling girls in school is sufficient to improve their health and wellbeing over the course of their lives.

The Population Council is pleased to welcome Professor David Serwadda to the Board of Trustees. With over 30 years of clinical and community research experience in HIV and related fields, including randomized trials of HIV prevention, HIV epidemiology and implementation and social/behavioral sciences, Serwadda is currently a Professor in the Department of Disease Control and Environmental Health, School of Public Health at Makerere University in Uganda.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK (September 10, 2019) – The Population Council has announced that Stephanie Psaki has become director of the Population Council’s Girl, Innovation, Research, and Learning (GIRL) Center – a collaborative global research hub dedicated to generating, synthesizing and disseminating evidence to transform the lives of the 1.2 billion adolescents worldwide.

Population Council researchers will share new research and insights on the latest in the HIV and AIDS epidemic at the 10th IAS Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2019) in Mexico City, Mexico July 20-24. IAS 2019 is the largest open conference on HIV science in the world.