Population Council

The Population Council's work ranges from research on reproductive health services and products, to interventions to treat and prevent HIV/AIDS, to research that investigates the livelihood opportunities of young girls and women.

Council researchers are working to reduce the threat of maternal death globally due to postpartum hemorrhage (PPH), an easily preventable and treatable condition responsible for 25% of maternal mortality. The Council is investigating options for prevention and treatment of PPH, including use of uterotonic drugs after delivery, as well as anti-shock garments, umbilical vein injection of oxytocin, and simple anemia detection methods. The Council is conducting operations research to test the delivery and home administration of misoprostol for PPH through community initiatives in rural Ethiopia and Pakistan. Both interventions are designed around existing systems of community-based workers. Within these programs, a training course guideline has been developed for community-based workers and medical providers. A standardized manual for designing community-based interventions using misoprostol has been completed and distributed to Council staff in the field, with the ultimate goal of scaling up these programs throughout different regions.

The Council aims to integrate effective technologies into use by disseminating evidence, incorporating them into national guidelines and training curricula, and ensuring the availability of supportive supplies and equipment. In Bolivia, the Council conducted research on the implementation of active management of delivery to reduce PPH in three tertiary-level public hospitals.

The Council also partners with other leading service delivery organizations in developing tools and guidelines for integration into national health management information systems. In Senegal, under a USAID-supported initiative led by IntraHealth International, the Council has provided support for monitoring and evaluation of safe motherhood programs, including PPH prevention through the active management of the third stage of labor (AMSTL). Specifically in the area of AMSTL, the Council has provided technical assistance on harmonization of indicators, designed case registers and forms for routine data collection, and trained service providers and supervisors in using them. In Bangladesh, under the USAID-supported RESPOND project, primed by EngenderHealth, the Council provides research and technical support to the monitoring and evaluation team. 

Additional information on the work being done by The Population Council can be found at: http://www.popcouncil.org/countries/pakistan.asp