The Sixth Annual PopPov Conference on Population, Reproductive Health, and Economic Development was held in Accra, Ghana from Jan. 18–21, 2012. Sponsors include the Hewlett Foundation and the Population Reference Bureau, and the University of Ghana hosted the meeting.
This year’s annual meeting brought together the world’s most prominent researchers on population, reproductive health, family planning, and economic development. Invitees included experts from around the world, focusing particularly on African economics researchers and those conducting research in African countries.
In continuing with past conferences held by this network, participants learned about ongoing and planned research on how population dynamics and reproductive health affect economic development, working together to identify gaps in evidence and methods that inhibit development of sound policies on population, family planning, and reproductive health. In addition to exploring various methodological issues and tools that are used in development research, participants also attended informative sessions on how to communicate research to decision makers for evidence-based policy.
In the YouTube video below, conference organizers discuss the importance of the PopPov Network and the research presented at the Annual Meeting, reflecting on how the PopPov Network aims to connect research findings to policy.
Parting Words: Dr. Ruth Levine As part of the conclusion to each conference day, participants were treated to a commentary session in which selected speakers would provide some final reflections, observations, and parting thoughts on the day’s proceedings. On the final day of the conference, Dr. Ruth Levine of The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation gave an especially informative and engaging presentation, expressing her parting thoughts in the form of a tongue-in-cheek “observational study.”
Click here to access Dr. Levine’s PowerPoint presentation.
Reflections on Decades of Working Toward Family Planning Access and Rights An Interview With Dr. Fred Sai The Sixth Annual PopPov Conference was fortunate to have Dr. Fred Sai as the conference’s keynote speaker. As former Ghanaian Presidential Advisor on Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS, Dr. Sai worked tirelessly for decades toward family planning and nutrition. He has held positions at FAO, United Nations University, IPPE, and The World Bank. He chaired the Main Committees at the International Conference on Population in Mexico in 1984 and the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994.
In this interview (YouTube video at top) following his keynote address, Dr. Sai shares his thoughts on progress made toward family planning over his career, how he convinced skeptical policymakers to support population issues, and how governments’ views of family planning have changed over time.
Blog Posts From the Conference: 2012 PopPov Blog Archives
Conference Agenda: (PDF: 460KB)
Abstracts of Conference Papers: (PDF: 415KB)