Global View: Contraception Saves Lives, or One Infographics Worth More Than a Dozen of Scientific Reports

More from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation:

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Global View: Bill Gates calls for a New Green Revolution

In his 2012 Annual Letter, Bill Gates summarizes major efforts taken by his foundation and emphasizes future goals in three areas where the Foundation is engaged. They include Innovation in Agriculture, Global Health and US Education. All of those efforts are probably equally important but I will focus here on the one that seems to be the most striking but at the same time the most neglected by the broad public of the West: the FOOD PROBLEM.

The world is facing a fast population growth and problems arising from this process together with the climate change issues are already affecting underdeveloped and developing countries to much larger extent than the developed world. And it will get worse (unless we do something about it...).

Couple of facts:

1) In poor countries agriculture is a major fraction of the economy;

2) Food prices are rising constantly and have already reached levels of mid 70's of the previous century, and show a trend towards further increase;

3) In underdeveloped and developing countries the proportion of farmers to entire population is high and very often exceeds 50% and families in those countries spend the highest proportion of their incomes on food (e.g. 45% in Kenya but only 9% in UK);

4) Rise in global temperature is predicted alone to decrease the productivity of main crops by over 25%;

5) Earth population is constantly growing with the highest growth rates observed in  underdeveloped countries, which implies the growth in food demand that will not meet the needs, especially of the poor.

Sources: World Bank, 2009; US Department of Agriculture, 2009; Euromonitor International
by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, click to enlarge

This situation reminds the one of 1960's when major global food crisis seemed to be unavoidable. Luckily, the solution came from the Green Revolution of 1970's and the disaster was prevented at a time. 

Today we are facing a similar problem, and according to Bill Gates words, the NEW Green Revolution is required. Unfortunately, the amount of fundings that go to agricultural research, which addresses the needs of the neglected portion of world's population, is absolutely insufficient. The development of crops resistant to different acute climate conditions, as well as to most spreader crop deceases can safe millions of human beings. In this regard a much bigger financial and technological engagement of western countries is inevitable.

Global View:The Number of Unsafe Abortions Rises

WHO in collaboration with New York based Guttmacher Institute published today a deeply disturbing report in The Lancet on abortions incidence and trends worldwide from 1995 to 2008. The study included data on induced pregnancy terminations from all world regions, combining  complex information from official sources, hospital records and surveys. The study shows that although the total number of abortions is in decline, the number of unsafe* abortions has risen from 44% in 1995 to 49% in 2008, putting more women at serious health risk and in life threatening situations (13% of maternal deaths attributes to unsafe abortions). Approximately 97% of all abortions in Africa and 95% in Latin America  were considered unsafe (with only 9% in Europe). What's substantial, in many african countries these numbers are extremely high even if abortion laws are liberal.

Additionally, data strongly indicate that abortion rates are lower in subregions were more women live under liberal abortion laws, and thus this study does not support the common pro-life justification for stringent abortion laws.

Association of abortion rate with prevalence of liberal abortion laws by subregion in 2008, The Lancet

Not surprisingly, the lowest abortion incidence was observed in western european countries, where abortion laws are either very liberal or liberally interpreted, and where's wide access to family planning and contraception.

The overall conclusion driven from this study indicates that restrictive abortion laws not only DO NOT PREVENT abortions, but rather contradict their goals and contribute to higher abortion rates and higher maternal mortality. 

                                          

* "(...)as in previous efforts to estimate abortion incidence and consistent with WHO practice, we used the operational definition of unsafe abortions, which is abortions done in countries with highly restrictive abortion laws, and those that do not meet legal requirements in countries with less restrictive laws. Safe abortions were defined as those that meet legal requirements in countries with liberal laws, or where the laws are liberally interpreted such that safe abortions are generally available", Sedgh et al., The Lancet 2012