Karra Presents Research on Impact of Family Planning Interventions

On July 13, 2022, Mahesh Karra, Assistant Professor of Global Development Policy at Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies and Associate Director of the Human Capital Initiative at the School’s Global Development Policy Center (GDP Center), spoke at the Population Reference Bureau’s (PRB) Demography Talk on family planning interventions and how research and data on the matter seem to lag behind other public health interventions.

The evidence Karra presented is the culmination of years of research he has conducted in Central and East Africa on the impacts of family planning on contraceptive use, fertility health, and longer-term well-being. While family planning has received a lot of attention in academic and policy discourse, Karra urged participants to work toward obtaining better data on family planning, particularly when it comes to preferences and demand. Because national averages and standard family planning program measures mask the complexity of family planning and fertility dynamics – especially in countries with high rates of modern contraceptive use – family planning advocates and providers should reevaluate what they want to measure relative to what they are currently measuring.

A recording of the lecture can be viewed below.