The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s “Impatient Optimists” blog published several posts in response to the TEDxChange: “The Big Picture” presentation delivered by Melinda Gates, co-chair of the foundation, in Berlin on Thursday.

• Melinda Gates, Gates Foundation’s “Impatient Optimists” blog: Gates comments on her TEDxChange talk, saying, “I just delivered a TEDxChange talk about [women’s access to contraceptives], because I believe that if we start talking about contraception, we will remember that there shouldn’t be controversy around this topic.” She writes, “To help make this happen, our global TEDxChange community is launching a storytelling project. … I urge you to join us by telling your story. Together, we can make sure that millions more women get to tell stories like it in the years to come” (4/5).
• Natalie Holmes, Gates Foundation’s “Impatient Optimists” blog: Blogger Holmes reports on the TEDxChange conference, writing, “Melinda’s talk was on family planning — a topic that is currently hugely controversial, but why?” She continues, “Debates about abortion and population control are both hugely emotive issues and ones that are frequently associated with family planning — making a practical issue suddenly loaded by association. Despite some unanswered questions about cultural relativity, and ambiguities about where the Gates Foundation sits amid top-down and bottom-up approaches, I am impressed by Melinda’s dedication to this issue” (4/6).
• Amie Newman, Gates Foundation’s “Impatient Optimists” blog: “Passion, excitement and frustration about, and solutions to, some of the world’s biggest problems were discussed” during Melinda Gates’ TEDxChange talk, Newman, a communications officer at the foundation and editor of the blog, writes in this post. Gates “took on access to family planning for some of the world’s poorest women — in developing countries around the world,” Holmes writes, and calls for others to share their stories through TEDxChange’s “How Have Contraceptives Changed Your Life?” storytelling project (4/5).