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• Caesarean Deliveries: Why Are They Key for Maternal Health in Developing Countries?
  7 Aug 2008 | Cindy Stanton
  Caesarean delivery rates are rising among mothers in many developing countries, and likely exceed the 15 percent limit recommended by the World Health Organization in 2005. Caesarean deliveries are especially common in some Asian and Latin American countries, accounting for many as 40 percent of babies delivered - but not in Africa, where they account for just 2 percent of deliveries in some countries. Within countries, Caesarean deliveries tend to increase sharply with wealth. Less than 1 percent of women in the poorest households had Caesareans in many countries – below the minimum rate required to cover fatal complications. Rates are much higher among wealthy women – nearing 80 percent in some countries. What can we do to ensure that all women and babies have access to Caesareans for life-saving purposes and that health systems use their resources in the most cost-effective ways? Join Cindy Stanton, assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, as she responds to your questions about issues surrounding Caesarean deliveries in developing countries.
• Environmental Change: What Are the Links With Migration?
  30 Jul 2008 | Jason Bremner
  There are more international migrants today than ever before, with close to 200 million people living outside their country of birth. Internal migration, the movement of people within their own country, dwarfs international migration. Increasing numbers are refugees fleeing their homeland for another country, or are internally displaced within their own country. Human migration can have rapid and complex impacts on rural and urban environments and can pose great challenges to the conservation of the biodiversity and natural resources. At the same time, environmental change, such as drought and rising sea levels, is expected to force millions more people to migrate.
  
  Join Jason Bremner, program director for Population, Health, and Environment (PHE) at PRB, as he answers your questions about the relationships between migration and the environment, current trends, and future migrations related to environmental change. Jason has more than 10 years of experience in PHE programs and research and spent several years studying migration and environment links in the Galapagos and Amazon regions in Latin America.
• Americans at Work: What Lies Ahead?
  26 Jun 2008 | Mark Mather, Marlene Lee
  The aging of baby boomers and the fact that women's labor force participation has already peaked are expected to slow U.S. labor force growth in the near future. Globalization is also changing the size and composition of the U.S. workforce. Foreign-born workers have contributed 40 percent of the labor force growth between 1990 and 2000, and global corporate restructuring is shifting production from high-wage countries to low-wage countries. How have and how will these key demographic, institutional, and economic changes affect the composition of the U.S. labor force?
  
  Join PRB's Marlene Lee and Mark Mather as they answer your questions about the U.S. labor force and what lies ahead for American workers, based on their new Population Bulletin, "U.S. Labor Force Trends."
  
  Marlene A. Lee is a senior research associate and editor of the Population Bulletin and Mark Mather is associate vice president of Domestic Programs at the Population Reference Bureau.
• Ensuring a Wide Range of Family Planning Choices
  5 Jun 2008 | Lori Ashford
  Worldwide, more than 60 percent of women of childbearing age use some method of family planning, but the percentages range from less than 10 percent in some of the least developed countries, to more than 70 percent in other countries. Cultural, social, political, and historical factors may drive women to rely on one or two specific contraceptive methods, but research has underscored the importance of having a range of choices.
  
  Join PRB's Lori Ashford as she answers your questions about family planning worldwide: trends in use, preferences for specific methods, and obstacles women face in gaining access to the most appropriate method for them. Lori Ashford is program director for policy communications at PRB, and the author of many reports and articles on family planning, population policy, and reproductive health.
• The Middle East Youth Bulge: Causes and Consequences
  13 May 2008 | Ragui Assaad
  Recent demographic trends have created a youth bulge in the Middle East and North Africa, with nearly one in every five people age 15 to 24. Despite its oil wealth and improved health and education systems, the region's political, social, and economic systems still do not meet the needs of this rapidly growing young population. What are the prospects for young people in this region? Are young men putting off marriage because of limited job opportunities? Why is the education system so out of synch with the needs of the labor market in Arab countries? Join Ragui Assaad, regional director for West Asia and North Africa at the Population Council, as he responds to your questions about the growing youth population in this region.
• Building Alliances to Save Mothers' Lives
  8 May 2008 | Theresa Shaver
  Each year millions of women die needlessly as a result of pregnancy or childbirth. Maternal mortality is now a rarity in most developed countries, yet worldwide, a woman dies every minute from a pregnancy-related cause. The United Nations has challenged countries to reduce their maternal mortality by three-quarters between 2000 and 2015 (Millennium Development Goal #5), but many appear unlikely to meet this goal unless they receive help, especially within South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. What is being done to marshal the financial resources and political commitment necessary to ensure safe motherhood around the world? Can we do more? Join Theresa Shaver, director of the global secretariat of the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood, as she discusses the challenges encountered and successes enjoyed by a major international effort to increase resources to save mothers’ lives.
• Combating Malaria: A First-Hand Account From Congo
  24 Apr 2008 | Matthew Lynch for Antoinette Tshefu
  The global health community is mounting an unprecedented effort against the deadly scourge of malaria. The Democratic Republic of Congo poses unique and daunting challenges to the massive efforts required for effective malaria control. Hear first-hand from a Congolese malaria expert about the realities and challenges that are a daily part of life for all residents, as well as the proposed solutions that could save millions of lives in the years to come. Join Dr. Antoinette Tshefu as she responds to your questions about tackling the problem of malaria in high-burden countries, and Congo in particular. Dr. Tshefu is a medical doctor, professor, and malaria expert at the University of Kinshasa School of Public Health. A native of the DRC, she has over 14 years of public health experience working in the country on malaria and humanitarian initiatives.
• Combating Malaria: What More Can We Do Now?
  22 Apr 2008 | Nicole K. Bates
  Encouraging progress against malaria was made in the Americas and some parts of Asia in the last century, but the first global campaign to stop malaria didn’t succeed. In fact, investments in malaria research and treatment waned and the disease resurged in the impoverished communities of sub-Saharan Africa. Today there are nearly 1 million malaria deaths per year, mostly of children, and between 300 million and 500 million cases of this debilitating disease. Experts, advocates, and communities have renewed efforts to stop malaria, but what will it take to ensure that the global health community is able to sustain the effort to stop malaria this time around? Nicole Bates is director of government relations at the Global Health Council.
• Managing Unauthorized Migration
  25 Mar 2008 | Philip Martin
  Unauthorized migration is a major issue in the United States and many other countries, sometimes generating intense publicity and debate. How can leaders minimize the "push" factors that encourage unwanted migration? Trade, investment, and foreign aid, for example, might help create jobs and opportunities in the sending countries that would keep potential migrants home. But do these strategies help slow unauthorized migration? Phil Martin, professor of agricultural economics at the University of California, Davis, is a noted expert on international labor migration. He is the co-author of the new PRB Population Bulletin, "Managing Migration: The Global Challenge."
• Finding Ways to Improve Child Health
  13 Feb 2008 | Nils Daulaire
  Each year, nearly 10 million children die, mostly from preventable and treatable causes. Millions of children in low-income countries suffer from long-term illnesses, malnutrition, and injuries that limit their life options. What can we do to improve children’s health and save lives in low-income countries? Which countries are on track to improve health, and which need the most help? What are the links to mother's health? Dr. Daulaire is president and CEO of the Global Health Council.
• Sub-Saharan Africa's Demographic Giants: Ethiopia and Nigeria
  30 Jan 2008 | Assefa Hailemariam, Charles Teller, Kolawole Oyediran
  Ethiopia and Nigeria are sub-Saharan Africa's largest countries by far, with populations of 83 million and 144 million, respectively. They account for more than one-quarter of the continent's 788 million people, and are integral to its demographic future. Both are growing rapidly (at nearly 3 percent per year) because of high fertility, lowering mortality, and low contraceptive use. Both countries grapple with widespread child malnutrition and share many challenges. Charles Teller is an adjunct visiting professor in the Population Studies and Research Center, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, and Bixby Visiting Scholar at PRB. He will be joined online by Nigerian sociologist-demographer Dr. Kola Oyidiran and Ethiopian demographer-statistician Dr. Assefa Hailemariam.
• Beyond 300 Million: Regional and State Population Trends in the United States
  19 Dec 2007 | Mark Mather
  In October 2006, the U.S. population topped 300 million people, and continues to outpace growth in other developed countries. But population change within the United States is highly uneven, with rapid growth in the South and West, and slow growth or population loss in many parts of the Midwest and Northeast. What are the factors contributing to this demographic divide, and what are the economic, political, and environmental implications of these trends? Mark Mather is deputy director in domestic programs at the Population Reference Bureau.
• Gender Equality in the Family
  27 Nov 2007 | Frances K. Goldscheider
  The gender revolution in the public sphere has continued apace throughout the industrialized world. Women are leading countries and holding prestigious positions in government, business, and academia. In many countries they are now attaining more education than men. Although women are still constrained by a glass ceiling, they are making real progress in achieving equity with men. In the private sphere of the family, much less change has occurred. Women still shoulder most of the responsibilities. It is important, however, to distinguish between gender inequalities in housework (which men resist sharing) and in child-rearing (which women resist sharing). For women to reach equality with men, these inequities in the public and private spheres need to be addressed.
• Will India's Population Reach 2 Billion?
  17 Oct 2007 | Carl Haub
  Fertility in India has fallen from an average of about six children per woman in the 1960s to about three today, a remarkable achievement for the country’s efforts to slow population growth. India's population passed the 1 billion mark in 2000--will it pass 2 billion, even with these lower fertility rates? This question was addressed by PRB senior demographer Carl Haub who, along with O.P. Sharma, recently produced a series of population projections for India to 2101. Mr. Haub will discuss what is likely to happen with India's population as it becomes the world’s most populous country.
• The Unfinished Agenda in Global Health
  31 Aug 2007 | Richard Skolnik
  Despite important advances in life expectancy, there are still very substantial gaps between the health of people in developing and developed countries. This is especially true for poor people. Almost 12 million young children a year die, many of preventable causes and half related to undernutrition. More than 500,000 women a year die in childbirth. Malaria kills more than 1 million children a year and almost 40 million people worldwide are infected with HIV. What is the burden of disease in the developing world? What are the key risk factors for that burden? What are cost-effective ways in different settings of addressing that burden? How can the world work together more effectively to deal with this unfinished agenda?
• Why Population Aging Matters
  31 Jul 2007 | Richard Suzman
  People are living longer and, in some parts of the world, healthier lives. By 2030, 1 billion people will be ages 65 and older. While this is a major achievement of the last century, significant challenges now confront us. Societal aging may affect economic growth, family sustainability, and international relations. Join Dr. Richard Suzman, director of the behavioral and social research program at the U.S. National Institute on Aging, to discuss the impact of population aging on the global community, and the findings of the NIA's new report, "Why Population Aging Matters."
• How Can Philanthropy Play a More Useful Role in Improving Family Planning and Reproductive Health in the Developing World?
  22 May 2007 | Sara Seims
  The philanthropic sector plays a vital role in supporting family planning and reproductive health funding, and provided $326 million in grants for population activities in 2004. The overwhelming majority of these funds come from a handful of U.S. foundations, and in recent years these institutions have recognized the need to hold themselves more accountable regarding the effectiveness of the work that they support. Join in PRB's online discussion of the ways in which many foundations are determining how best to work with developing country governments, civil society organizations, local communities and other stakeholders, as well as with other funders.
• How Can We Reduce the Death Rates From Pregnancy and Childbirth?
  18 Apr 2007 | Fariyal Fikree, M.D.
  In most developing countries, women still face a significant risk of dying or having a serious or life-threatening complication during pregnancy, delivery, or after. These risks can be dramatically reduced through already known cost-effective interventions. But political will and resources continue to lag. Discuss with Dr. Fikree the barriers to implementation, and successful strategies for ensuring that women survive pregnancy and childbirth.
• U.S. Birth Rate: Still Fueling Population Growth?
  22 Mar 2007 | Mary Mederios Kent
  We often hear that the U.S. family is shrinking and that more young Americans aren’t getting married or having children—but the U.S. has a higher birth rate than most other industrialized countries. Who is having or not having children in the U.S. today? How has U.S. fertility changed since the baby boom years of the 1950s and 1960s? How has immigration affected the U.S. birth rate? Where does the U.S. rank compared with other countries?
• Environment, Poverty and Security in Today's World: What's Population Got to Do With it?
  25 Jan 2007 | Roger-Mark De Souza
  How are environmental, poverty, and security trends in today’s world affected by population dynamics? What is being done to address these issues? What is needed? Join Roger-Mark De Souza, Technical Director of Population, Health and Environment at PRB, for an online discussion of population, health, and environment linkages.
• Who Is Malnourished or Hungry in the World? Why? What Can We Do to Help?
  6 Dec 2006 | Bill Butz
  How many malnourished or hungry people are there in the world, and why? Is the situation improving or worsening? Join Bill Butz, president and CEO of the Population Reference Bureau, on Dec. 6 for an online discussion of malnutrition, hunger, and food security.
• Is Global Pressure for Immigration Increasing?
  9 Nov 2006 | Carl Haub
  Nearly 3 million people migrate to other countries today. With aging societies in Europe, and in Japan and other Asian countries seeing a reduction in their labor forces, the need for workers will conflict with many countries' desires to remain relatively culturally homogeneous. How will countries cope with these issues. A compelling topic for discussion!
• The U.S. at 300 Million: Challenges and Prospects
  11 Oct 2006 | Linda Jacobsen
  The United States is set to reach a milestone in October. It will become the third country—after China and India—to be home to at least 300 million people. Each 100 million has been added more quickly than the last. It took the United States more than 100 years to reach its first 100 million in 1915. After another 52 years, it reached 200 million in 1967. Less than 40 years later, it is set to hit the 300-million mark. Within another 37 years, we are projected to pass 400 million. Since 1967, we Americans have seen considerable change in who we are and how we live. Join in an online discussion to look at some of the major changes, including the decline in household size, rise in women's labor force participation, increase in education, and growth in the number of foreign-born people. All of these trends will affect our children's future.