Morning Briefing

"For many years, in large parts of West Africa, the percentage of women who use contraception has stalled at less than 10 percent, leading many to declare that there is very little or no demand for family planning (FP) in the region. This couldn't be farther from the truth," Catharine McKaig, project director of family planning at the Maternal and Child Health Integrated Program (MCHIP), the USAID Bureau for Global Health's flagship maternal, neonatal and child health program, writes in a post in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog. "Among women -- young and old, those who have had many children and those who have had few or none -- there is a sea-change happening. These women are expressing their desire for family planning methods, and our approach towards integrating maternal and child health care services with FP is producing results," she writes, concluding, "It is an optimal moment to unite as a community supporting women's health worldwide to ensure adequate supply and minimal cost for family planning services to the hundreds of thousands of women in West Africa who are seeking care" (5/10).