(Reuters) – The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is set to unveil funding a sum in the hundreds of millions of dollars for a campaign to improve access to contraception in the developing world.
The exact amount will be announced at a summit of world leaders and aid organizations in London on Wednesday, but in an interview with Reuters, Melinda Gates said the commitment would be “on a par” with the foundation’s other big programs, like that against malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis.
In January, the foundation pledged a further $750 million for that fight on top of $650 million contributed since the fund was set up 10 years ago.
The aim of the London Summit on Family Planning is to raise $4 billion to expand access to contraception for 120 million women in the developing world by 2020.
According to United Nations figures, about 220 million women in the developing world who do not want to get pregnant, cannot get reliable access to contraception.
“Because we didn’t have contraception or family planning on the agenda we weren’t putting new money into it,” says Gates. “We weren’t saying this is a priority. So this is our moment in time to say this is a priority and we need to fund it.”
