Francis Obare Onyango

Francis Obare Onyango is a senior research associate at the Population Council. He designs and implements research on the sexual and reproductive health of vulnerable groups, including adolescents living with HIV and the poorest populations in low- and middle-income countries. He works with in-country researchers and relevant government ministries to generate evidence and promote its use by program implementers and policymakers at local, national, and global levels. 

At the Council, Obare Onyango has implemented small- and large-scale studies funded by major agencies, including USAID, PEPFAR, UK Aid, UNFPA, the Gates Foundation, the CDC, SIDA, the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie), the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and GlaxoSmithKline, with budgets ranging from US $150,000 to US $1.5 million. His research cuts across several sub-Saharan African countries, including Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal, eSwatini (Swaziland), Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. 

Before joining the Council, Obare Onyango was a research trainee with the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC), where he implemented studies on adolescent health, health equity, and demographic surveillance. 

Obare Onyango is the author of 87 peer-reviewed papers, technical reports, and book chapters. He has presented three dozen scientific papers nationally and internationally and serves on the editorial board of BMC Women’s Health journal. He is a member of regional and international population associations, including the Union for African Population Studies, the Population Association of America, and the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population, and has actively participated in these associations as a presenter, discussant, chair of sessions, and session organizer for scientific meetings and conferences. 

Obare Onyango has a PhD in demography from the University of Pennsylvania. He also holds a Master of Arts in population studies and a Bachelor of Arts in geography and history from the University of Nairobi, Kenya.