Partnering with national health ministries and other government agencies in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America, Population Council global and in-country scientists are conducting COVID-19 public health and social science research to produce relevant and timely evidence to support policymakers in controlling the spread of coronavirus, evaluating the effectiveness of prevention and mitigation measures, and assessing longer-term health, social and economic effects of the pandemic.
Articles (peer-reviewed)
Assessing the level and determinants of COVID-19 vaccine confidence in Kenya, Stacey Orangi, Jessie Pinchoff, Daniel Mwanga, Timothy Abuya, Mainga Hamaluba, George Warimwe, Karen Austrian, and Edwine Barasa
Effectiveness, safety and acceptability of medical abortion at home versus in the clinic: A systematic review and meta-analysis in response to COVID-19, Katherine Gambir, Camille Garnsey, Kelly Ann Necastro, and Thoai Ngo
Extent and causes of increased domestic violence during the COVID-19 pandemic: Community health worker perspectives from Kenya, Bangladesh, and Haiti, Ann Gottert, Timothy Abuya, Sharif M.I. Hossain, Alain Casseus, Charlotte E. Warren, and Pooja Sripad
Gendered economic, social and health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and mitigation policies in Kenya: Evidence from a prospective cohort survey in Nairobi informal settlements, Jessie Pinchoff, Karen Austrian, Nandita Rajshekhar, Timothy Abuya, Beth Kangwana, Rhoune Ochako, James B. Tidwell, Daniel Mwanga, Eva Muluve, Faith Mbushi, Mercy Nzioki, and Thoai Ngo
Gender specific differences in COVID-19 knowledge, behavior and health effects among adolescents and young adults in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, India, Jessie Pinchoff, K.G. Santhya, Corinne White, Shilpi Rampal, Rajib Acharya, and Thoai Ngo
Global antibiotic use during the COVID-19 pandemic: Analysis of pharmaceutical sales data from 71 countries, 2020–2022, Arindam Nandi, Simone Pecetta, and David E. Bloom
How has COVID-19-related income loss and household stress affected adolescent mental health in Kenya?, Jessie Pinchoff, Elizabeth Layard Friesen, Beth Kangwana, Faith Mbushi, Eva Ireri Muluve, Thoai Ngo, and Karen Austrian
Knowledge, attitudes, practices, and the effects of COVID-19 among the youth in Kenya, Evalin Karijo, Sylvia Wamugi, Samuel Lemanyishoe, Jenny Njuki, Faith Boit, Vania Kibui, Sarah Karanja, and Timothy Abuya
Mobility patterns during COVID-19 travel restrictions in Nairobi urban informal settlements: Who is leaving home and why, Jessie Pinchoff, Cara Kraus-Perrotta, Karen Austrian, James B. Tidwell, Timothy Abuya, Daniel Mwanga, Beth Kangwana, Rhoune Ochako, Eva Muluve, Faith Mbushi, Mercy Nzioki, and Thoai Ngo
Pre-pandemic influences on Kenyan girls' transitions to adulthood during COVID-19, Meghan Bellerose, Maryama Diaw, Jessie Pinchoff, Beth Kangwana, and Karen Austrian
The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on routine childhood immunization coverage and timeliness in India: Retrospective analysis of the National Family Health Survey of 2019–2021 data, Amit Summan, Arindam Nandi, Anita Shet, and Ramanan Laxminarayan
The impact of COVID-19 control measures on social contacts and transmission in Kenyan informal settlements, Matthew Quaife, Kevin van Zandvoort, Amy Gimma, Kashvi Shah, Nicky McCreesh, Kiesha Prem, Edwine Barasa, Daniel Mwanga, Beth Kangwana, Jessie Pinchoff, CMMID COVID-19 Working Group, John Edmunds, Christopher I. Jarvis, and Karen Austrian
The impact of natural disasters and epidemics on sexual and reproductive health in low- and middle-income countries: A narrative synthesis, Samantha Loewen, Jessie Pinchoff, Thoai Ngo, and Michelle J. Hindin
The perceived effects of COVID-19 pandemic on female genital mutilation/cutting and child or forced marriages in Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Senegal, Tammary Esho, Dennis Matanda, Timothy Abuya, Sintayehu Abebe, Yeshitila Hailu, Khaltoume Camara, Bachir Mouhammed, Tonny Kapsandui, Lilian Kamanzi, Andrew Wabwire, Patrick Kagurusi, Maureen Nankanja, Anne Gitimu, David Kawai, John Kogada, Millicent Ondigo, and Joachim Osur
The United States COVID-19 Forecast Hub dataset, Estee Y. Cramer, Yuxin Huang, Yijin Wang, Evan L. Ray, Matthew Cornell, et al., US COVID-19 Forecast Hub Consortium, Thoai Ngo, and Hamidreza Zoraghein
Youth relationships in the era of COVID-19: A mixed-methods study among adolescent girls and young women in Kenya, Celia Karp, Caroline Moreau, Grace Sheehy, Selena Anjur-Dietrich, Faith Mbushi, Eva Ireri Muluve, Daniel Mwanga, Mercy Nzioki, Jessie Pinchoff, and Karen Austrian
Audio/Video
Looking Back, Looking Forward: Using Evidence to Inform Sexual and Reproductive Health Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic—Webinar, Saumya RamaRao, Kristin Bietsch, Julia N. White, Johannes van Dam, and Ann K. Blanc
Promises to Keep: Impact of COVID-19 on Adolescents in Kenya—Photo Exhibition, Presidential Policy and Strategy Unit (Kenya) and Population Council
Webinar: COVID-19 Evidence and Impact from Bangladesh, Guatemala, India & Kenya Teams, Jessica DeMulder, Thoai Ngo, Ashish Bajracharya, Iqbal Ehsan, Eashita Haque, Brian Medina, Angel del Valle, Akash Porwal, Timothy Abuya, and Karen Austrian
Books
Covid-19 and the Global Demographic Research Agenda, Landis MacKellar and Rachel Friedman
Briefs
Are more people adopting COVID-19 prevention measures?, UNICEF and Population Council Institute
Awareness of and receiving social protection measures during COVID-19 lockdown in Bihar, India, UNICEF and Population Council Institute
Bangladesh: COVID-19 Knowledge, Attitudes, Practices and Needs—Responses from the first round of data collection among adolescent girls in five districts, Population Council
Bangladesh: COVID-19 Knowledge, Attitudes, Practices & Needs—Responses from three rounds of data collection among adolescent girls in districts with high rates of child marriage, Sajeda Amin, Ubaidur Rob, Sigma Ainul, Md. Irfan Hossain, Forhana Rahman Noor, Iqbal Ehsan, and Mehnaz Manzur
COVID-19 times: Study protocol for rapid assessment of the situation of women and children in Bihar, UNICEF and Population Council Institute
Critical needs during Covid-19 lockdown: Job, food, cash, medicines—Who needs what?, Population Council Institute
Demand for and access to family planning services among young married women during COVID-19 crisis, UNICEF and Population Council Institute
Effects of COVID-19 on livelihood, employment, and financial resources, UNICEF and Population Council Institute
Exploring community health worker roles, support, and experiences in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh, Frontline Health Project
Exploring community health worker roles, support, and experiences in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Haiti, Frontline Health Project and Zanmi Lasante
Facing COVID-19: Knowledge, attitudes, practices, and challenges of healthcare providers, Population Council
Guatemala: COVID-19 knowledge, attitudes and practices—Perspectives from 144 key informants in 10 indigenous municipalities, Population Council
Kenya: COVID-19 knowledge, attitudes and practices—Preliminary findings, Population Council
Kenya: Gender effects of COVID-19—Responses from fourth round of data collection in five Nairobi informal settlements (Kibera, Huruma, Kariobangi, Dandora, and Mathare), Population Council
Kilifi, Kenya: Adult COVID-19 perceptions, prevention practices and impact—Responses from the first round of adult data collection in Kilifi, Kenya, Population Council
Kisumu, Kenya: Adult COVID-19 perceptions, prevention practices and impact—Responses from the first round of adult data collection in Kisumu, Kenya, Population Council
Learning loss among adolescent girls during the COVID-19 pandemic in rural Bangladesh, Sajeda Amin, Md. Irfan Hossain, and Sigma Ainul
Low perceived risk: A challenge to adoption of preventive behaviors for COVID-19?, Population Council Institute
Meeting the moment: The gender and education community's response to COVID-19, Evidence for Gender & Education Resource (EGER)
México: Conocimientos, actitudes y prácticas relacionadas con COVID-19, Population Council
Mexico: COVID-19 knowledge, attitudes and practices, Population Council
Migration and COVID-19: Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Population Council Institute
Poor women's reproductive health and family planning challenges and needs during the COVID-19 pandemic, Population Council
Rapid data collection in Kenya’s urban informal settlements informs national COVID-19 response, Population Council
Returning home: Effects of COVID-19 on migrant households in Bihar, UNICEF and Population Council Institute
Self-help groups: A potential pivot of Bihar's response to COVID-19, UNICEF and Population Council Institute
Social, health, education and economic effects of COVID-19 on adolescent girls in Kenya: Responses from the first round of adolescent data collection, August 2020—Kilifi, Population Council
Social, health, education and economic effects of COVID-19 on adolescent girls in Kenya: Responses from the first round of adolescent data collection, August 2020—Kisumu, Population Council
Social, health, education and economic effects of COVID-19 on adolescent girls in Kenya: Responses from the first round of adolescent data collection, August 2020—Wajir, Population Council
The impact of COVID-19 on opportunities for adolescent girls and the role of girls' groups, Hannah Briggs, Nicole Haberland, Sapna Desai, Thomas de Hoop, and Thoai Ngo
Trends in family planning services in Bangladesh before, during and after COVID-19 lockdowns: Evidence from national routine service data, Md. Irfan Hossain, Md. Saddam Hossain, Sigma Ainul, Md. Kamruzzaman Bhuiyan, Sharif M.I. Hossain, Ubaidur Rob, and Ashish Bajracharya
Trends in maternal health services in Bangladesh before, during and after COVID-19 lockdowns: Evidence from national routine service data, Sigma Ainul, Md. Saddam Hossain, Md. Irfan Hossain, Md. Kamruzzaman Bhuiyan, Sharif M.I. Hossain, Ubaidur Rob, and Ashish Bajracharya
Wajir, Kenya: Adult COVID-19 perceptions, prevention practices and impact—Responses from the first round of adult data collection in Wajir, Kenya, Population Council
Women's groups and COVID-19: Challenges, engagement, and opportunities, Thomas de Hoop, Sapna Desai, Garima Siwach, Chinmaya Holla, Yulia Belyakova, Sohini Paul, and Roopal Jyoti Singh
Chapters
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on child domestic workers in Ethiopia, Annabel Erulkar, Welela Tarekegne, and Eyasu Hailu
Commentaries
Addressing contraceptive needs exacerbated by COVID-19: A call for increasing choice and access to self-managed methods, Lisa Haddad, Saumya RamaRao, Avishek Hazra, Harriet Birungi, and James Sailer
Bad COVID public health messaging is blocking our path to a “new normal”, Thoai Ngo
Bridging health gaps with inclusive urbanization, Jessie Pinchoff and Thoai Ngo
COVID-19 and the hidden damage to the childhood immunization agenda in India, Arindam Nandi
COVID-19: Demography, economics, migration and the way forward, Landis MacKellar
Data collection and COVID-19: What’s gender got to do with it?, Chi-Chi Undie, Nicole Haberland, Sanyukta Mathur, Isabel Vieitez Martínez, and Julie Pulerwitz
Forecasting COVID-19 and other infectious diseases for proactive policy: Artificial intelligence can help, Morteza Karimzadeh, Thoai Ngo, Benjamin Lucas, and Hamidreza Zoraghein
India's resurgence of COVID-19: Urgent actions needed, Yamini Aiyar, Vijay Chandru, Mirai Chatterjee, Sapna Desai, Armida Fernandez, Atul Gupta, Gagandeep Kang, Tarun Khanna, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Nachiket Mor, Arnab Mukherji, Poonam Muttreja, Thelma Narayan, Bhushan Patwardhan, K. Sujatha Rao, Sharad Sharma, Devi Shetty, S.V. Subramanian, Leila Caleb-Varkey, Sandhya Venkateswaran, and Vikram Patel
In-person research during COVID-19: Considerations and a call to action, Corinne White, Thoai Ngo, and Paul C. Hewett
In the response to COVID‐19, we can’t forget health system commitments to contraception and family planning, John Townsend; Petra ten Hoope-Bender; Jill Sheffield; and The FIGO Contraception, Family Planning Committee
Lives not worth saving, Zeba Sathar
Men and COVID-19: Adding a gender lens, Myra Betron, Ann Gottert, Julie Pulerwitz, Dominick Shattuck, and Natacha Stevanovic-Fenn
Mitigating the COVID-19 challenges to HIV prevention efforts in Africa: A socio-behavioral perspective, Julie Pulerwitz, Harsha Thirumurthy, Elizabeth E. Tolley, and Ariane van der Straten
Opinion: Ensure access to high-quality abortion care during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, Kelly Blanchard and Thoai Ngo
Opportunities and challenges of delivering postabortion care and postpartum family planning during the COVID-19 pandemic, Anne Pfitzer, Eva Lathrop, Alison Bodenheimer, Saumya RamaRao, Megan Christofield, Patricia MacDonald, Bethany Arnold, Neeta Bhatnagar, Erin Mielke, and Meridith Mikulich
Opportunities for SGBV data collection in the time of COVID-19: The value of implementation science, Chi-Chi Undie, Sanyukta Mathur, Nicole Haberland, Isabel Vieitez Martínez, and Julie Pulerwitz
Protecting newborn infants during the COVID-19 pandemic should be based on evidence and equity, Emma Sacks, Pooja Sripad, Charity Ndwiga, Peter Waiswa, and Charlotte E. Warren
Quick take: Corona crisis in Bangladesh, Ubaidur Rob
Reduced food and diet quality, and need for nutrition services during COVID-19: Findings from surveys in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, Rajib Acharya
Remember the fundamentals as we build back better in girls’ education, Stephanie Psaki and Karen Austrian
Research in forced displacement: Guidance for a feminist and decolonial approach, Neha S. Singh, Michelle Lokot, Chi-Chi Undie, Monica A. Onyango, Rosemary Morgan, Anne Harmer, Jane Freedman, and Shirin Heidari
Sexual and gender minority adolescents must be prioritised during the global COVID-19 public health response, Jessica DeMulder, Cara Kraus-Perrotta, and Hussain Zaidi
SHGs and Covid-19: Challenges, engagement, and opportunities for India’s National Rural Livelihoods Mission, Garima Siwach, Sapna Desai, Thomas de Hoop, Sohini Paul, Yulia Belyakova, and Chinmaya Holla
Tackling the U.S. Coronavirus Data Catastrophe: Recommendations for the Biden-Harris COVID-19 response national strategy, Thoai Ngo, Charlotte Brasseux, Saleh Abbas, and Mingqi Song
To slow the spread of COVID-19, we need to bring back the Swiss Cheese Model of pandemic response, Thoai Ngo
Uniting for adolescents in covid-19 and beyond, Helen Clark, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen, Jorge Alcocer, Errol Alden, et al., and Annabel Erulkar
Upholding rights under COVID-19: The Respectful Maternity Care Charter, R. Rima Jolivet, Charlotte E. Warren, Pooja Sripad, Elena Ateva, Jewel Gausman, Kate Mitchell, Hagar Palgi Hacker, Emma Sacks, and Ana Langer
We need a pro-poor and pro-Black response to COVID-19, Thoai Ngo
We wanted to know how coronavirus affects Nairobi's slum residents. What we found, Karen Austrian and Timothy Abuya
What the COVID-19 pandemic is showing us about the global learning crisis, Nicole Haberland and Timothy Abuya
Data Sets
COVID-19-related knowledge, attitudes and practices in rural indigenous communities in Mexico, Isabel Vieitez Martínez, Silvana Larrea, Fabiola Romero, and Ludivine Cicolella
Dataset: COVID-19-related knowledge, attitudes, and practices among adolescent girls in Bangladesh, Sajeda Amin, Ubaidur Rob, Masuma Billah, Sigma Ainul, Md. Irfan Hossain, Forhana Rahman Noor, Surojit Kundu, Iqbal Ehsan, Eashita Haque, Md. Saddam Hossain, and Mehnaz Manzur
Dataset: COVID-19-related knowledge, attitudes, and practices among adolescents and young people in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, India, Rajib Acharya, Mukta Gundi, Thoai Ngo, Neelanjana Pandey, Sangram Kishor Patel, Jessie Pinchoff, Shilpi Rampal, Niranjan Saggurti, K.G. Santhya, Corinne White, and A.J. Francis Zavier
Dataset: COVID-19-related knowledge, attitudes, and practices among decisionmakers of indigenous municipalities in Guatemala, Angel del Valle, Hannah Briggs, Benjamin Chang, Aiken Chew, Brian Medina, Gabriela Muñoz, Thoai Ngo, Elizabeth Vásquez, Corinne White, and Ramón Zamora
Dataset: COVID-19-related knowledge, attitudes, and practices in urban slums in Nairobi, Kenya, Timothy Abuya, Karen Austrian, Adan Isaac, Beth Kangwana, Faith Mbushi, Eva Muluve, Daniel Mwanga, Thoai Ngo, Mercy Nzioki, Rhoune Ochako, Jessie Pinchoff, Ben Tidwell, and Corinne White
Dataset—Effectiveness, safety, and acceptability of medical abortion at home versus in the clinic: An updated systematic review in response to COVID-19, Katherine Gambir, Camille Garnsey, Kelly Ann Necastro, and Thoai Ngo
Dataset: Experiences among adults and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic from four locations across Kenya, Timothy Abuya, Karen Austrian, Adan Isaac, Beth Kangwana, Faith Mbushi, Eva Ireri Muluve, Daniel Mwanga, Thoai Ngo, Mercy Nzioki, Rhoune Ochako, Jessie Pinchoff, Ben Tidwell, and Corinne White
Dataset: Experiences among adults and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic from four locations across Kenya, Timothy Abuya, Karen Austrian, Adan Isaac, Beth Kangwana, Faith Mbushi, Eva Ireri Muluve, Daniel Mwanga, Thoai Ngo, Mercy Nzioki, Rhoune Ochako, Jessie Pinchoff, Ben Tidwell, and Corinne White