2 replies to this topic

[wjfox]

Melinda Gates pledges $560 million for contraception

(Reuters) - Melinda Gates has pledged $560 million as part of a campaign to expand access to contraception for women in some of the poorest countries in the world.

The funding commitment was unveiled on Wednesday at the London Summit on Family Planning alongside pledges totaling $4.3 billion from the British government and leaders from African nations wrestling with the health and social problems brought on by high rates of unplanned pregnancy.

The summit launched a program to extend family planning services to 120 million women out of an estimated 220 million around the world who want, but cannot get, reliable access to contraception by 2020.

Read more: http://www.reuters.c...E86A1DU20120711

[Alric]

Some people really give the Gates a hard time, and are really strongly opposed to things like this. However, I think they are nuts. How is this anything but a good thing? Helping 120 million people is a great thing.

[Lily]

Well, by their standards it means that Gates may not be helping them. It's against christianity and nature in their minds, to prevent pregnancies while still having sex. They are hypocrites in my eyes, but I find that I have a stronger view on this because of being a woman. I try to be as objective as I can be, but I know that I am very biased. I just really hate being defined by the abillity to have children.

Sadly, the situation - most importantly in developing countries - is still far from positive regarding this matter. Look at South America, for example. People there tend to be very devout and this (among other things, ignorance) results in children - many children. Woman aren't often even asked if they wanted to have kids, or how many. And in my opinion there's another very important factor: Education & upringing. If you grow up in a family that has very strict religous views and are told that you are to marry a man and have lots of children, well, you may accept this as your future either without thinking or without doing something against it.

If I understood the article well enough, the money is meant to fund contraception for woman who want these drugs/treatments but can't afford them or have no access to it. It definitely helps, but it is just a small step.
I believe that there's a need to spread the sex education further, and not only for woman, but also men. It's very important that they, too, start thinking about this issue. I never really understood how some people can have like 15 children, only to see 4 of them dying after birth, and say, another 8 of starvation. So that leaves you with 3 children of which one may die because of an accident. These children grow up in a poor and scarce environment, where everything they have required a lot of work and effort. Their future often looks bleak and hopeless enough, without wars and AIDS and all the other problems that exist in this world.

I just don't understand how they continue to have sex and children knowing the pain that awaits them. Parents and children. (Okay, I somehow can understand some reasons, but, well... It's not my cup of tea.)

Edited by Lily, 13 July 2012 - 10:46 PM.