Family Planning Summit Success

At Wednesday's Family Planning Summit held in London, Merck & Co and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation revealed that they will work together to expand access to family planning, improving the health of women around the world. Merck will pledge up to $25 million over eight years as part of Merck for Mothers - the company's 10-year initiative to reduce maternal mortality around the world, and this pledge will be matched by the Gates Foundation. These contributions will advance efforts to help reach UN Millennium Development Goal 5, which calls for a 75 percent reduction in maternal mortality and universal access to reproductive health by 2015.

The announcement is part of a new effort to ensure that family planning services reach an additional 120 million women and girls in the world's poorest countries by 2020. More than 150 leaders from donor and developing countries, international agencies, civil society, foundations and the private sector also pledged their support to improving access to family planning information, services and supplies. For further information, visit the Summit’s website.