Gates Package — page 544

All these interventions are quite basic, yet they've dramatically improved the lives of people in this country. Childhood death has decreased. So has the number of women dying in childbirth. More women have access to contraceptives to plan if and when they want to have children. Melinda has been leading the foundation to strengthen our commitment to family planning (see her feature below). Sadi Seyni, a mother of five, learned about contraceptives after her second child was born, and then began spacing the births of her children (Talle, Niger, 2012). Measurement, Contraceptives, and Investing in Every Family's Future By Melinda Gates In country after country over centuries, parents' ability to plan their families--to decide whether and when to have children--has been correlated to massive improvements in health, prosperity, and quality of life. But in much of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, hundreds of millions of women still don't have access to contraceptives. Last year, I spent most of my time learning and telling others why access [to contraceptives, information about family planning, and health services] matters, why it's a challenge in many countries, and what we can do together to fix it, For me, the most important way I learn is traveling to developing countries and listening to the women who are struggling against great odds to give their children the chance at a better life. A few months ago, I was in Niger where I met 'a young mother named Sadi Seyni. She has five children now and didn't learn about contraceptives until after her second child. She still wants more children, but she walks 10 miles every three months to get a contraceptive injection because she knows it's healthier for her and her children to space her pregnancies. Every time I come back from a trip, lam overflowing with stories about why women like Sadi are so inspiring to me. By meeting people on the ground, I also get to see first-hand how the theme of Bills annual letter, the role of measurement in improving delivery, can help poor countries serve people's needs. My big project in 2012 was the London Summit on Family Planning, which I ted with Prime Minister David Cameron and the U.K.'s Department for International Development. The goal of the Summit was to help generate a global conversation about how to close the gap between the number of