Population Council Kenya

The Population Council conducts research to address critical health and development issues. Our work allows couples to plan their families and chart their futures. We help people avoid HIV infection and access life-saving HIV services. And we empower girls to protect themselves and have a say in their own lives.

In Kenya, the Council leads research and develops programs to reduce maternal mortality; build protective health, social, and economic assets for adolescent girls; reduce HIV transmission; respond to sexual and gender-based violence; address disrespect and abuse in maternity care; assess various service integration models; assess whether reproductive health voucher programs can help vulnerable populations access critical reproductive health services; and strengthen evidence for programs related to unintended pregnancy and unsafe abortion.

The Council helped the Kenyan government develop its first population policy in 1966, and played a key role in establishing the Population Studies and Research Institute at the University of Nairobi. The Council initiated a regional capacity-building program that led to the formation of the African Population and Health Research Center in 1995, now a leading independent research institution. The Council sustains the Africa Regional Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Network, a coalition that meets annually to review best practices for strengthening and integrating medical and legal services for survivors of sexual violence.