Jul 20 2012
In this post in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog, Melinda Gates, co-chair of the foundation, reflects on the London Summit on Family Planning, which took place last week, writing, "I was humbled and thrilled by the world's commitment to put women and girls back at the heart of the global health agenda. ... Their enthusiasm shows that family planning is a high priority in the countries where many women and girls lack access, and that is the key to success in the long term" (7/18). In a related post on the blog, Gary Darmstadt, head of the Family Health Division at the foundation, writes, "At the Summit, the clear consensus among the participants was that responding to unmet need for family planning is a human right and we have an obligation to act. ... Stakeholders agreed that women must be at the center of family planning decision-making at all levels" (7/18).
 This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
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