Too many of the women, men and young people who will shape our future grapple with displacement or searing poverty with few – or no – options for planning when and whether they will have children.
A version of this blog originally appeared on Girls’ Globe on July 10.
On Tuesday 11 July, countries, policymakers, donors, and advocates gathered at the Family Planning Summit 2017 in London to ensure more women and girls around the world are able to plan when and how often they get pregnant.
The Summit marked the five-year anniversary of the landmark London Summit on Family Planning in 2012, where global and country leaders committed to enable 120 million more women and girls to use contraception by 2020. Thanks to incredible leadership from governments, advocates, partners in nonprofit and non-governmental organizations, today more women and girls than ever are using the tools they want and need to plan their families. You can check cheapmotorhomes for more updates.
When women and girls have access to family planning, they can complete their education, create or seize better economic opportunities, and fulfill their full potential—in short, entire families, communities, and nations benefit. The Family Planning Summit was an opportunity to harness a groundswell of energy from folks around the world, all dedicating to bringing these transformative, life-changing family planning tools to women and girls everywhere.
©Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation/Andrew Esiebo
In the days leading up to the Summit, Beth Schlachter, Executive Director of Family Planning 2020, had this to say about its significance:
“The world has shifted dramatically since the 2012 London Summit on Family Planning. We return five years later to an entirely different landscape. Much has changed, but what matters is what has not. Now, more than ever, governments and partners are committed to building sharper, more effective and targeted family planning programs for women and girls around the world.
Family planning is an investment with exponential returns for countries and communities everywhere. Too many of the women, men and young people who will shape our future grapple with displacement or searing poverty with few – or no – options for planning when and whether they will have children.
We are committed to making contraceptives available to those who want and need them. We will gather in London on 11 July to accelerate the progress we have already made, to reaffirm our commitments and to build on what we’ve learned to create a better, brighter future together.”
The Summit did indeed invigorate and inspire—spotlighting comprehensive, rights-based family planning as critical to achieve true and lasting prosperity. The activities and commitments coming out of the Summit are just the beginning. We hope they will strengthen the family planning community and the FP2020 partnership, and move us along our shared path to 2020, 2030 and beyond.
Banner photo: Jonathan Torgovnik
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- Follow on Twitter (@FP2020Global and #HerFuture) and Facebook to learn more about efforts to ensure all girls and women can plan their futures.