Gilda Sedgh, Senior Research Associate

Gilda Sedgh has been a Senior Research Associate at the Guttmacher Institute since 2004. Her areas of expertise include levels and trends in unmet need for contraception in developing countries, women’s reasons for contraceptive nonuse, and abortions levels and trends worldwide. She has also engaged in estimating pregnancy incidence by planning status and outcome worldwide and in major world regions. She has conducted research on unsafe abortion in Nigeria and Burkina Faso, and reported on conditions surrounding unsafe abortion in Indonesia and Ghana. Dr. Sedgh’s other areas of published research include the association of HIV infection and disease progression with fertility in Sub-Saharan Africa. She has published articles in Lancet, International Perspectives on Reproductive and Sexual Health, AIDS, JAIDS and Studies in Family Planning. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and a master’s degree in population and international health and a ScD in epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Recent publications include:

Sedgh G et al., Induced abortion: incidence and trends worldwide from 1995 to 2008, The Lancet, 2012, <http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2811%2961786-8/abstract >.

Sedgh G, Singh S, Henshaw SK, Bankole A, Legal abortion worldwide in 2008: levels and recent trends, Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2011, 43(3):188-198.

Sedgh G, Singh S, Henshaw SK, Bankole A, Legal abortion worldwide in 2008: levels and recent trends, International Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2011, 37(2):84-94.

Darroch JE, Sedgh G and Ball H, Contraceptive Technologies: Responding to Women’s Needs, New York: Guttmacher Institute, 2011.

Singh S, Sedgh G, Hussain R, Unintended pregnancy: worldwide levels, trends, and outcomes, Studies in Family Planning 2010; 41(4):241–250.

Singh S, Wulf D, Hussain R, Bankole A and Sedgh G, Abortion Worldwide: A Decade of Uneven Progress, New York: Guttmacher Institute, 2009.

Sedgh G, Bankole A, Okonofua F, Imarhiagbe C, Hussain R and Wulf D, Meeting Young Women's Sexual and Reproductive Health Needs in Nigeria, New York: Guttmacher Institute, 2009.

Bankole A, Sedgh G, Okonofua F, Imarhiagbe C, Hussain R and Wulf D, Barriers to Safe Motherhood in Nigeria, New York: Guttmacher Institute, 2009.

Bankole A, Sedgh G, BA Oye-Adeniran, IF Adewole, R. Hussain and S. Singh, Abortion seeking behaviour among Nigerian women, Journal of Biosocial Science, 2008, 40: 247-268.

Sedgh G, Henshaw SK, Singh S, Aahman E and Shah IH, Induced abortion: rates and trends worldwide, Lancet, 2007, 370(9595):1338–1345.

Sedgh G, Henshaw SK, Singh S, Bankole A and Drescher J, Legal abortion worldwide: incidence and recent trends, International Family Planning Perspectives, 2007, 33(3):106-116.

Sedgh G, Hussain R, Bankole A and Singh S, Women with an unmet need for contraception in developing countries and their reasons for not using a method, Occasional Report, New York: Guttmacher Institute, 2007, No. 37.

Sedgh G, Bankole A, Adewole IF, Oye-Adeniran BA, Singh S and Hussain R, Unwanted pregnancy and associated factors among Nigerian women, International Family Planning Perspectives, 2006, 32(4):175–184.

Sedgh G, Larsen U, Spiegelman D, Msamanga G and Fawzi WW, HIV-1 infection and fertility in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, African Journal of Reproductive Health, 2006, 10(3):41–52.

Bankole A, Oye-Adeniran BA, Singh S, Adewole IF, Wulf D, Sedgh G and Hussain R, Unwanted Pregnancy and Abortion in Nigeria: Causes and Consequences, New York: The Guttmacher Institute, 2006.

Sedgh G, Jackson E and Ibrahim B, Toward the abandonment of female genital cutting: advancing research, communication and collaboration, Culture, Health & Sexuality, 2005, 7(5):425–427.

Sedgh G, Larsen U, Spiegelman D, Msamanga G and Fawzi WW, HIV-1 disease progression and fertility in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, 2005, 39(4):439–445.

Sedgh G, Spiegelman D, Larsen U, Msamanga G and Fawzi WW, Breastfeeding and maternal HIV-1 disease progression and mortality, AIDS, 2004, 18(7):1043–1049.

Sedgh G, Herrera MG, Nestel P, el Amin A and Fawzi WW, Dietary vitamin A intake and nondietary factors are associated with reversal of stunting in children, Journal of Nutrition, 2000, 130(10):2520–2526.

Amin S and Sedgh G, Incentive Schemes for School Attendance in Rural Bangladesh, Working Paper, New York: Population Council, 1998, No. 106

Singh S and Sedgh G, The relationship of abortion to trends in contraception and fertility in Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, International Family Planning Perspectives, 1997, 23(1):4–14..