Population Council

The Population Council was established in 1952 to find solutions to the world's population problems. Although based in New York, the Council is an international non-profit organization with regional offices in Bangkok, Cairo, Dakar, Mexico City, and Nairobi. In conducting research in health, social, and biomedical sciences, the Council has, among other accomplishments, broken ground in contraceptive devices, explored male fertility, and analyzed the social position of women and its concurrent effect on the population.

The Council seeks to use science and technology to provide relief to the population problems of developing countries. Governed by a board of 20 trustees from 16 countries who meet twice a year, the Council has programs in 50 countries throughout Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, and Africa. It receives funding from world governments, United Nations agencies, foundations, and individuals for its research and programs. The major programs and institutions of the Population Council are the Center for Biomedical Research, the Research Division, and the Programs Division.

The Center for Biomedical Research investigates new ways to regulate human fertility, primarily through development of new methods of contraception. For example the Center invented the Norplant levonorgestrel implant and a copper-bearing T-shaped intrauterine device (IUD). Both methods are for long-term protection and are reversible. Other methods include a hormone-releasing IUD, Norplant II (with two implants instead of six), and contraceptive vaginal rings. Another idea in progress includes a vaginal contraceptive that provides protection from the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). These methods are designed for women, but the Center for Biomedical Research also concentrates on controlling male fertility through research into male physiology. With particular interest in creating a contraceptive to block sperm production without dampening the male sex drive, the Center is working on a "nonsurgical" or "no-scalpel" vasectomy and male subdermal implants, akin to women's Norplant.

The Population Council does not restrict its research to the biomedical domain, however. Through its Research Division, it looks for solutions to population problems through social research. A small interdisciplinary group of demographers, economists, sociologists, and anthropologists make up the Research Division. Among notable studies is an ongoing project examining the consequences of high fertility in a family. For instance, early research indicates that in Maharashtra, India, the advantages associated with growing up in a small family exist for boys but not for girls. Apparently in many smaller families in India, girls have a proportionately heavier burden of labor. The Research Division also conducts many studies in China, where the state is heavily involved in regulating its population. Through research into family planning and fertility, child survival, and women's roles and status—a subject that has taken precedence in the Council's research since 1976—the Research Division provides theories that the Population Council puts to use in controlling worldwide population problems.

The Council applies the research conducted by the Center for Biomedical Research and the Research Division through its Programs Division. The Programs Division collaborates with governments, organizations, and scientific institutions of developing countries to formulate population policy. Many of the programs set forth by this division parallel studies being conducted by the Research Division. For example, the Programs Division conducts family planning and fertility counseling; works to insure reproductive health and child survival; and seeks to improve women's roles and status in developing countries. The contraceptive introduction program is also an important part of the Programs Division.

In addition to its programs and research, the Council publishes two scholarly journals: Population and Development Review and Studies in Family Planning. Both contain studies of current ideas and theories in population control. The Population Council also sponsors outstanding scholars and scientists to further research into the technology needed to control the world's populations.

[Andrea Gacki ]

RESOURCES

ORGANIZATIONS

Population Council, 1 Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, New York, NY USA 10017 (212) 339-0515, Fax: (212) 755-6052, Email: pubinfo@ popcouncil.org, http://www.popcouncil.org