The Guttmacher Institute is thrilled to accept the 2018 United Nations Population Award, joining Sir Prince Ramsey, a family physician from Antigua and Barbuda, and the Israeli NGO Save a Child’s Heart, as this year’s award recipients. 

"This year the Guttmacher Institute marks its 50th anniversary," says Ann Starrs, Guttmacher Institute president & CEO. "As we reach this milestone, it is especially gratifying to have our work acknowledged in this way by the United Nations. We could not be more honored."

Grounded in the conviction that scientific evidence is the foundation for good reproductive health policy, the Institute has, during the past five decades, generated a large body of rigorous research and policy analysis that has been used in the development of sound government policies and programs to improve the lives of women, families and communities.

The Institute’s impact has been wide-ranging and includes:

• Bringing global attention to the costs and benefits of investing in family planning and reproductive health services through its series of Adding It Up reports, produced jointly with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The Adding It Up finding that, as of 2017, 214 million women have an unmet need for modern contraception in developing regions is perhaps the most well-cited data point used in international family planning advocacy and is used extensively to make the case for investing in contraceptive services. This work has helped to mobilize billions of dollars in global aid to support contraceptive services in the world’s poorest countries.
• Leading the global research community in documenting the incidence of abortion and unintended pregnancy in countries where abortion is legally restricted. To date, the Institute has published nearly 50 country-specific studies in 24 developing countries on incidence, cost and impact of abortion. These studies have helped shift policy and media discussions of the issue by demonstrating that legally restricting access to safe abortion does not eliminate the practice of abortion. Many countries have responded by liberalizing their abortion laws, expanding treatment services for women injured by unsafe procedures and making safe abortion services more widely available.
• Establishing the Guttmacher-Lancet Commission on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, with the goal of developing a bold, comprehensive, evidence-based and actionable agenda for sexual and reproductive health and rights priorities for the next 15 years and beyond. The Commission—which consists of 16 multidisciplinary experts from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and North and South America—released its report earlier this year; its findings and recommendations have already been endorsed by the leaders of UNFPA and World Health Organization, ministers of health and many of our colleague organizations. 

Established by the UN General Assembly in 1981, the United Nations Population Award recognizes outstanding achievements in population and health. The Committee for the United Nations Population Award, which made the selections, is chaired by Ghana and includes Antigua and Barbuda, Bangladesh, Benin, Gambia, Haiti, Iran, Israel, Paraguay and Poland.