Winners of First-Ever Global Humanitarian Awards for Women\u2019s and Children\u2019s Health Honored\u00a0Nusa Dua, Indonesia (25 January 2016) \u2013 His Excellency Joko \u201cJokowi\u201d Widodo, President of the Republic of Indonesia, and thousands of government, health and development leaders from around the world gathered today in Indonesia for the opening of the fourth International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP).<\/p>\n
Co-hosted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the National Population and Family Planning Board of Indonesia (BKKBN), the conference is centered on the theme of \u201cGlobal Commitments, Local Actions.\u201d At the opening ceremony, Jokowi; Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of UNFPA; Dr. Christopher Elias, President of the Global Development Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; and numerous global leaders came together to discuss the global status of family planning and call for urgent action to increase access to family planning services worldwide. During the ceremony, Jokowi and Elias also presented the first-ever Global Humanitarian Awards for Women\u2019s and Children\u2019s Health. The awards recognize individuals for their tremendous contributions and commitment to advancing maternal and child health and well-being, especially family planning, in communities around the world. As part of the presentation of the Global Humanitarian Awards, Alvaro Bermejo, Executive Director for Health at the Children\u2019s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), also announced a new\u00a0 $30 million initiative called Adolescents 360, co-funded with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.<\/p>\n