Each month on “A Deeper Look” podcast, FHI 360’s CEO, Patrick Fine, sits down with leaders and champions working in human development. April’s podcast features Ann Starrs, director at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation overseeing the Foundation’s work on family planning.
Their conversation covers the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on reproductive health and describes the Foundation’s new family planning strategy. The discussion highlights exciting future developments in contraceptive technology, the Foundation’s approach to strengthening the R&D ecosystem, and the importance of conducting in-depth research on user insights and making findings more widely available:
“…understanding these different tradeoffs and these priorities that women have is crucial for us in understanding what are the key characteristics of the products that we want to ask the scientists to develop.”
Does this sound familiar? The CTI Exchange team was excited to hear this important point, which demonstrates how contraceptive R&D can begin with the end in mind.
Click here to listen to the conversation between Ann Starrs and Patrick Fine.