Global Sexual and Reproductive Health: Spotlight on Abortion

Rutgers Global Health Institute is hosting a guest faculty seminar at 11 a.m. on Friday, March 4, 2022, as part of its Viewpoints in Global Health Research: Guest Faculty Seminar Series.

This online seminar will be presented by:

Gilda Sedgh
Principal research scientist

Global Sexual and Reproductive Health: Spotlight on Abortion
Information on abortion, including global incidence and trends, is needed to motivate investments in improving reproductive health and rights. This presentation will examine global trends in abortion and unintended pregnancy as well as how our methods for making these estimates have evolved over time. It also will address the policy relevance of this research.

About the Presenter
Gilda Sedgh was a principal research scientist at the Guttmacher Institute, where she worked from 2004–2019 and forged collaborations that led to the institute’s designation as a World Health Organization collaborating center. She has served as an associate and advisor to major donors in global sexual and reproductive health and rights and to the United Populations Fund since 2019.

Her areas of expertise include reasons for contraceptive non-use in developing countries and how they have changed over time; trends in the incidence and safety of abortion worldwide; self-managed care in sexual and reproductive health and rights; and innovative methods for studying clandestine abortion. She has conducted original research in Burkina Faso, Senegal, and Indonesia and advised on evaluations of multicountry sexual and reproductive health and rights programs. She is currently leading a consultative process for establishing a research agenda on self-care in sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Sedgh has been a member of expert panels hosted by the World Bank and the World Health Organization and has been invited to present her research at numerous policy and donor forums. She is on the editorial advisory board of The Lancet Public Health, and she co-chairs the Self-Care Evidence and Learning Working Group hosted by Population Services International. She received an undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania and both a master’s degree in population and international health and Sc.D. degree in epidemiology from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Online via Zoom

Free and open to the public. For more information, email info@globalhealth.rutgers.edu. For more events, visit the seminar series page on the Rutgers Global Health Institute website or explore the institute’s full online calendar.