Poor collaboration, lack of information major barriers to implementing family planning methods

Ahead of the London Summit on Family Planning on July 11, Gary Darmstadt, head of the Family Health Division of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, examines barriers to contraceptive use in this post in the foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog. "Poor collaboration in recent years means that donors have not been aligned and, as such, there has been inadequate, inconsistent and unpredictable funding for family planning programs globally," he states, adding, "The other recurring theme of existing barriers is the lack of information at all levels -- global, national, and community level -- about the health benefits of planning and spacing children and the available methods to do that." He concludes, "[U]nderstanding the problem and barriers to planning a family is the first step in establishing an ambitious yet achievable goal and mobilizing the global community behind it" (7/5).