Log In and Listen: Melinda Gates Shares her Thoughts about Family Planning

BERLIN— The Big Picture, a multimedia dialogue about applying new perspectives to development issues, launches 5 April. Convened by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, this TEDxChange event explores ideas worth spreading in the areas of global health and development.

The event is an invitation to individuals and organizations to apply new perspectives to critical issues for humanity. “Let’s come together as a global community, take a step back and look at the big picture,” says Melinda Gates on a trailer for the event. “How can community action bring about positive change? Are we willing to think in brand new ways to address global challenges?” 

The 90-minute event will raise other questions as well: Why, as a global society, should we continue to invest in overseas development? How can we work across borders and political boundaries to bring about positive change? And what returns can we expect on our investments?

As part of the TEDxChange event, Melinda Gates will share her personal story of how she came to be an advocate for helping the world’s poorest women gain access to contraceptives. Her talk will highlight the critical role family planning plays in advancing women’s health and ensuring that women are empowered to decide when and if to have children.

The platform will encourage meaningful discussions on topics, such as family planning and reproductive health in the lead-up to the Family Planning Summit in London in July. The summit aims to generate political commitment and substantial resources to meet the family planning needs of women in the world’s poorest countries by 2020.

The ‘Big Picture’ event will be livestreamed here beginning at 11:30 a.m. (New York time). It will truly be a worldwide event with over 194 satellite events taking place in more than 60 countries around the world. Check the TEDxChange website if you are interesting in participating in one of these live events. Tune in here for livestream in any of six languages.

As a partner on the Family Planning Summit, UNFPA, will be joining this Big Picture event online through Facebook, webstream and Twitter, using the hashtag #nocontroversy and #TEDxchange.