Global Partnerships & Platforms

Reproductive Health Centers of Excellence

Empowering leaders, bridging gaps: advancing population and reproductive health globally

Reproductive Health Centers for Excellence

In our pursuit of interdependence and excellence, we have established seven reproductive health centers of excellence in collaboration with esteemed partner institutions.

These centers, located at Makerere University in Uganda, Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia, Assiut University in Egypt, University of Ibadan, Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria, Kwame Nkrumah University (KNUST), the University of Ghana, and University of Malawi, have become epicenters of transformative education.

Alongside the strategic leadership course, they have developed graduate curricula and degree programs in reproductive health, empowered faculty research in family planning, reproductive and child health, and population, and have hosted family planning national summits.

These centers now extend their influence to mentor other regional universities, fortifying reproductive health teaching and research capacity.

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Empowering Research, Inspiring Change: Advancing Family Planning and Reproductive Health Knowledge

Since 2002, the Gates Institute’s unwavering support has fostered collaborative efforts between Hopkins faculty and partner institutions, resulting in a remarkable output of over 135 peer-reviewed journal articles. These contributions, supplemented by the partner institutions’ own publications totaling over 365 articles, have effectively addressed knowledge gaps in population, reproductive health, and family planning.

Moreover, Gates Institute has consistently convened leadership gatherings focusing on family planning, almost on an annual basis since 2002. The inaugural conferences in Baltimore—’Family Planning in New Worlds’ (2002), ‘Family Planning and the Workforce’ (2003), ‘Parliamentarian Leadership Seminar’ (2004), and ‘Obstetric Fistula Prevention’ (2005)—set the stage. Shifting to an international scale, the Regional Conference on Family Planning and HIV Integration took place in Ethiopia in 2006, while the International Research Conference on Youth and Development was held in Abuja, Nigeria in 2008.

The momentum continued with the launch of the International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP) series in 2009 in Uganda, followed by impactful gatherings in Senegal (2011), Ethiopia (2013), Indonesia (2016), Rwanda (2018), and Thailand (2022). With more than 3,600 attendees, including researchers, advocates, ministers, journalists, and youth, these conferences have solidified family planning’s pivotal role on the global health and development agenda.

Post-conference, a meticulous process of screening and editing resulted in the publication of numerous papers in journals such as the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics (August 2015 and November 2013), the African Journal of Reproductive Health, and the Global Public Health Journal. This ongoing dedication to knowledge dissemination underscores the Gates Institute’s commitment to advancing family planning and its multifaceted benefits.