Julia Bunting is a British demographer who is the ninth president of the Population Council, since March 2015.[1] She currently works to build a body of research on how best to support young girls.[2]

Julia Bunting
NationalityBritish
OccupationDemographer
Known forNinth president of the Population Council
Director at the International Planned Parenthood Federation

Early life edit

During an exchange visit to rural areas of Tanzania, she saw firsthand great disparities in reproductive healthcare.[2]

Career edit

Bunting is known for her work on reproductive and maternal health during her 12-year tenure at the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID), where she oversaw the government's policies for international development on HIV/AIDS, maternal, newborn, and child health and rights, and population.[3] There, she campaigned to address maternal mortality as a tractable problem, and worked on the FP2020 pledge to grant access to contraceptives and family planning to 120 million girls and women in the world's poorest countries.[2] She helped develop the global quantitative goal of "120 by 20" at the London Summit on Family Planning in July 2012,[4] which she helped organize, along with a 2017 revival of the summit. The 2012 summit raised $2.6 billion.[5]

She also served as a director at the International Planned Parenthood Federation, as a Programme and Technical lead.[3]

Under her leadership, the Population Council-developed (in conjunction with pharmaceutical company TherapeuticsMD) contraceptive vaginal ring Annovera obtained FDA approval in 2018.[6] The device lasts a year and does not require refrigeration or regular clinic visits, making it well-suited for use in low-income countries. The Population Council also announced in 2018 that their contraceptive gel for men had entered phase two clinical trials,[7] specifically a skin-applied Nestorone/testosterone hormonal gel.[8]

Awards edit

In 2013, Julia was inducted as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for improving reproductive health in developing countries.[9]

References edit

  1. ^ "PMNCH | Population Council". WHO. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  2. ^ a b c "Icons & Activists: 50 years of people making change" (PDF). UNFPA - United Nations Population Fund. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 September 2020. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Julia Bunting | Population Council". www.popcouncil.org. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  4. ^ Brown, Win; Druce, Nel; Bunting, Julia; Radloff, Scott; Koroma, Desmond; Gupta, Srishti; Siems, Brian; Kerrigan, Monica; Kress, Dan; Darmstadt, Gary L. (2014). "Developing the "120 by 20" Goal for the Global FP2020 Initiative". Studies in Family Planning. 45 (1): 73–84. doi:10.1111/j.1728-4465.2014.00377.x. ISSN 1728-4465. PMID 24615576.
  5. ^ Edwards, Sophie (17 May 2017). "Plans for major family planning summit take shape in Europe as US cuts back". Devex. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  6. ^ Miller, Korin (14 August 2018). "A Birth Control Ring You Can Use for a Whole Year Is Now FDA-Approved". SELF. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  7. ^ Edwards, Sophie (16 November 2018). "View from the ground: International Conference on Family Planning 2018". Devex. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  8. ^ "Nestorone®/Testosterone Transdermal Gel for Male Contraception". www.popcouncil.org. Population Council. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  9. ^ "Julia Bunting". She Decides. Retrieved 8 April 2021.

External links edit