Devex: How significant were the pledges at the London Family Planning Summit?
“Advocates have welcomed the news that an estimated $5 billion was pledged to improve and expand reproductive health services in developing countries at the London Family Planning Summit earlier this month … but say it still falls far short of the sums needed, and that better monitoring systems are required to ensure the commitments materialize. … According to a current estimate from co-host the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, shared in an email with Devex, roughly $4 billion of the total came from recipient countries — with Indonesia and India committing the lion’s share. This is good news, say family planning advocates, who have long argued that greater domestic resource mobilization is needed to address the needs of 214 million women and girls worldwide who want to avoid or delay pregnancy but do not have access to contraception. The bulk of the remaining $1 billion was pledged by the U.K., the Gates Foundation, and Canada…” (Edwards, 7/26).