PRB's Middle East and North Africa (MENA) program, initiated in 2001 with funding from the Ford Foundation, responds to the region's need for timely and objective information on population, socioeconomic, and reproductive health issues. The project explores the linkages among these issues and provides evidence-based policy and program recommendations for decisionmakers in the region. Working closely with research organizations in the region, the project team produces a series of policy briefs (in English and Arabic) on current population and reproductive health topics, holds roundtable discussions with high-level audiences in the region, makes presentations at regional and international conferences, and is creating a graphics bank on the PRB website.
MENA Graduate Fellowship Program
MENA Graduate Fellowships in Population, Sexual and Reproductive Health, and Development provide research awards to graduate students from selected MENA countries. Fellows are selected through a competitive process and become part of a network of PRB-supported researchers. MENA Fellows are invited to attend a two-week workshop on communicating research to policymakers and to publish their new research findings online as part of PRB's MENA Working Paper Series.
The MENA Working Paper Series include:
- Unintended Pregnancies Remain High in Jordan, by Rozzet Jurdi-Salah, University of Western Ontario (PDF: 126KB)
- Marriage Patterns in Palestine, by Yara Jarallah, Birzeit University (PDF: 139KB)
- Mobile Family Planning Clinics in Assiut Governorate, by Ghada Salah El-Deen Tawfeek, Assiut University
MENA Publications and Online Discussions
Abortion in the Middle East and North Africa (September 2008)
Advancing Research to Inform Reproductive Health Policies in the Middle East and North Africa (September 2008)
PRB Discuss Online: "The Middle East Youth Bulge," with Ragui Assaad, regional director for West Asia and North Africa, Population Council (May 2008)
Sexual and Reproductive Health in the Middle East and North Africa: A Guide for Reporters (May 2008)
Youth in the Middle East and North Africa: Demographic Opportunity or Challenge? (April 2007)
Young People's Sexual and Reproductive Health in the Middle East and North Africa (April 2007)
Time to Intervene: Preventing the Spread of HIV/AIDS in the Middle East and North Africa (January 2007)
Investing in Reproductive Health to Achieve Development Goals: The Middle East and North Africa (December 2005)
Reforming Family Laws to Promote Progress in the Middle East and North Africa (December 2005)
Marriage in the Arab World (September 2005)
Islam and Family Planning (August 2004)
Progress Toward the Millennium Development Goals in the Middle East and North Africa (March 2004)
Making Motherhood Safer in Egypt (March 2004)
Empowering Women, Developing Society: Female Education in the Middle East and North Africa (October 2003)
Women's Reproductive Health in the Middle East and North Africa (February 2003)
Finding the Balance: Water Scarcity and Population Demand in the Middle East and North Africa (July 2002)
Iran's Family Planning Program: Responding to a Nation’s Needs (June 2002)
Population Trends and Challenges in the Middle East and North Africa (October 2001)
MENA publications are available in English (and selected ones in Arabic and French) on PRB's website. Print copies can be ordered free of charge by writing to prborders@prb.org.
Contact: Farzaneh (Nazy) Roudi-Fahimi, 202-483-1100.