Press release
10 July 2012
Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Gunilla Carlsson to attend family planning summit in London
On 11 July 2012 the UK Government and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with UNFPA and other partners will host the London Summit on Family Planning. Minister for International Development Cooperation Gunilla Carlsson will attend and give a talk on women's rights and the need for greater access to contraceptives.
The summit aims to help 120 million more women in the poorest countries gain access to family planning by 2020. Estimates indicate that this would result in more than 200,000 fewer women and girls dying in pregnancy and childbirth and nearly 3 million fewer infants dying in their first year of life.
For a number of years, Sweden has made women's health and in particularly sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) a priority issue. Sweden has also increased its support to UNFPA (the UN agency working on these issues) and is now the largest donor.
The Government has also increased its support to women's and children's health (Millennium Development Goals 4 & 5) and aims to increase it further. Some of this support will go towards improving access to contraceptives and SRHR.
