Let's put birth control back on the agenda | Melinda Gates

翻译人员: yuan longquan 校对人员: Yolanda Zhang

Today, I'd like to talk with you

今天，我想和大家谈谈

about something that should be a totally uncontroversial topic.

一个本应毫无争议的话题。

But, unfortunately, it's become incredibly controversial.

但很不幸， 这个话题现在变得饱受争议。

This year, if you think about it,

想想看，就在今年，

over a billion couples will have sex with one another.

有超过十亿对伴侣发生性关系。

Couples like this one,

比如这对，

and this one,

还有这对，

and this one,

这对，

and, yes,

没错，

even this one.

也包括这对。

(Laughter)

（大笑）

And my idea is this --

而我是这样想的——

all these men and women should be free to decide

所有这些男男女女都应该自由决定

whether they do or do not want to conceive a child.

他们是否愿意生育子女。

And they should be able to use one of these birth control methods

同时他们应该能够根据自己的决定

to act on their decision.

使用某种避孕方法。

Now, I think you'd have a hard time

现在应该已经很难找到

finding many people who disagree with this idea.

很多不同意这个观点的人了。

Over one billion people use birth control without any hesitation at all.

超过十亿人会毫不犹豫地 使用避孕措施。

They want the power to plan their own lives

他们想要掌控自己的生活，

and to raise healthier, better educated and more prosperous families.

想要营造一个更健康、教育程度更高、 更富裕的家庭。

But, for an idea that is so broadly accepted in private,

然而，避孕这么一个在私底下 被广泛接受的想法，

birth control certainly generates a lot of opposition in public.

在公开场合却遭到了诸多反对。

Some people think when we talk about contraception

有些人觉得当我们谈论避孕时，

that it's code for abortion,

我们实际上是在说堕胎，

which it's not.

但事实并非如此。

Some people -- let's be honest --

坦白地说，有些人

they're uncomfortable with the topic because it's about sex.

对这个话题感到不自在， 因为它和性有关。

Some people worry

有些人担心

that the real goal of family planning is to control populations.

计划生育的真正目的是 控制人口数量。

These are all side issues

但是这些都是围绕

that have attached themselves to this core idea that men and women

男女各方应该自由决定 什么时候要孩子

should be able to decide when they want to have a child.

这个核心观点的次要问题。

And as a result, birth control has almost completely and totally disappeared

就这样，在全球的卫生议程上， 避孕的话题

from the global health agenda.

几乎完全消失了。

The victims of this paralysis are the people of sub-Saharan Africa

这一议程缺失的受害者是 是撒哈拉周边，以及

and South Asia.

南亚的人民。

Here in Germany, the proportion of people that use contraception

在德国，使用避孕措施的人口比例

is about 66 percent.

大约是66%。

That's about what you'd expect.

应该跟各位预期的差不多。

In El Salvador, very similar, 66 percent.

在塞尔瓦多也大概是66%

Thailand, 64 percent.

在泰国，是64%

But let's compare that to other places,

但把这个数字和其他地方比较一下，

like Uttar Pradesh, one of the largest states in India.

比如北方邦，印度最大的邦（省）之一。

In fact, if Uttar Pradesh was its own country,

实际上，如果北方邦是一个国家，

it would be the fifth largest country in the world.

它会成为世界上人口数量 第五大的国家。

Their contraception rate -- 29 percent.

那里避孕率只有29%。

Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, 10 percent.

尼日利亚，非洲人口最多的国家，10%。

Chad, 2 percent.

乍得，2%。

Let's just take one country in Africa, Senegal.

我们来看看非洲的一个国家， 塞内加尔。

Their rate is about 12 percent.

避孕率大约是12%。

But why is it so low?

为什么会这么低？

One reason is that the most popular contraceptives are rarely available.

其中一个原因是最常用的避孕工具 在那里都很难获得。

Women in Africa will tell you over and over again

非洲的女性会一次又一次地告诉你，

她们更喜欢使用一种注射剂。

that what they prefer today is an injectable.

They get it in their arm -- and they go about four times a year,

（把避孕药物）注射在手臂上， 一年四次。

they have to get it every three months -- to get their injection.

每三个月就要去注射一次。

The reason women like it so much in Africa is they can hide it from their husbands,

非洲女人喜欢这种方法， 是因为这样可以瞒着丈夫，

who sometimes want a lot of children.

有些丈夫想要很多个孩子。

The problem is every other time a woman goes into a clinic in Senegal,

但问题是，通常当她们去 当地诊所的时候，

that injection is stocked out.

注射剂都处于断货状态。

It's stocked out 150 days out of the year.

全年有150天都是如此。

So can you imagine the situation --

所以你们可以想象一下——

she walks all this way to go get her injection.

一个女人，走那么远的路去打针。

She leaves her field, sometimes leaves her children,

她离开田地，有时候还得离开孩子，

and it's not there.

去到诊所却发现没货。

And she doesn't know when it's going to be available again.

她甚至也无从得知什么时候 可以恢复供应。

This is the same story across the continent of Africa today.

今天，整个非洲大陆都是这样的情况。

And so what we've created as a world has become a life-and-death crisis.

因此，我们在当今世界上创造了一个 出生和死亡的危机。

There are 100,000 women [per year] who say they don't want to be pregnant

有10万名女性 表示她们不想怀孕，

and they die in childbirth -- 100,000 women a year.

然后她们却死于分娩—— 整整10万名女性，每一年。

There are another 600,000 women [per year]

（每年）还有60万女性

who say they didn't want to be pregnant in the first place,

一开始表示不想怀孕，

and they give birth to a baby

但还是把孩子生了下来，

孩子在出生一个月后便夭折了。

and her baby dies in that first month of life.

I know everyone wants to save these mothers and these children.

我知道，每个人都想拯救 这些母亲和孩子。

But somewhere along the way, we got confused by our own conversation.

但在这个过程中， 我们会为自己的说辞感到困惑。

And we stopped trying to save these lives.

我们停止了挽救生命的步伐。

So if we're going to make progress on this issue,

因此，如果我们希望 这个问题有所改善，

we have to be really clear about what our agenda is.

我们必须非常清楚该干些什么。

We're not talking about abortion.

我们在讨论的并不是堕胎，

We're not talking about population control.

也不是人口控制。

What I'm talking about is giving women the power to save their lives,

而是赋予女性权利， 使她们能够拯救自己的生命，

to save their children's lives

拯救孩子的生命，

and to give their families the best possible future.

和为她们的家庭创造最好的未来。

Now, as a world,

如今，放眼全球，

there are lots of things we have to do in the global health community

如果想让世界的未来变得更美好，

if we want to make the world better in the future --

全球卫生界还任重而道远——

things like fight diseases.

比如说如何对抗疾病。

So many children today die of diarrhea, as you heard earlier, and pneumonia.

大家可能都知道， 现在还有很多儿童会死于痢疾和肺炎。

They kill literally millions of children a year.

这两种病每年让数百万儿童丧命。

We also need to help small farmers --

我们还需要帮助小农场主——

那些在小块土地上耕种的非洲农民——

farmers who plow small plots of land in Africa --

so that they can grow enough food to feed their children.

保证他们种的粮食足够 喂饱自己的孩子。

And we have to make sure that children are educated around the world.

我们还需要确保 全世界的儿童都能接受教育。

But one of the simplest and most transformative things we can do

但我们能做的最简单、 最有成效的事情之一，

is to give everybody access to birth control methods

就是让所有人都能有效避孕，

that almost all Germans have access to and all Americans, at some point,

在某种程度上说， 就是能够使用那些几乎所有

they use these tools during their life.

德国人和美国人常用的避孕措施。

And I think as long as we're really clear about what our agenda is,

我认为，只要我们有明确的计划，

there's a global movement waiting to happen

一场全球性的变革就会发生，

and ready to get behind this totally uncontroversial idea.

成为这个毫无争议的话题背后 强有力的支撑。

When I grew up, I grew up in a Catholic home.

我是在一个天主教的家庭长大的。

I still consider myself a practicing Catholic.

我始终认为自己是 一个虔诚的天主教徒。

My mom's great-uncle was a Jesuit priest.

我曾祖父的兄弟曾是耶稣会的牧师。

My great-aunt was a Dominican nun.

我祖父的姐妹曾是 一名多米尼加的修女。

She was a schoolteacher and a principal her entire life.

一生中，她只担任过教师和校长。

In fact, she's the one who taught me as a young girl how to read.

是她在我小的时候， 教会了我如何认字。

I was very close to her.

我们的关系非常密切。

And I went to Catholic schools for my entire childhood

儿时的我就读的都是天主教的学校，

直到我离开家上大学为止。

until I left home to go to university.

In my high school, Ursuline Academy,

在我的高中，乌尔苏拉学院，

the nuns made service and social justice a high priority in the school.

修女们非常看重服务和社会正义感。

Today, in the [Gates] Foundation's work,

如今，在（盖茨）基金会的工作中，

I believe I'm applying the lessons that I learned in high school.

我相信我正在运用那些 在高中学到的知识。

So, in the tradition of Catholic scholars,

按照天主教学者的惯例，

the nuns also taught us to question received teachings.

修女们同样会教导我们去质疑 被灌输的教义。

And one of the teachings that we girls and my peers questioned

而我们女孩子以及同伴们 质疑的教义之一就是，

计划生育真的是个罪孽吗？

was is birth control really a sin?

Because I think one of the reasons

因为我认为

we have this huge discomfort talking about contraception

我们谈避孕的时候 会感到很不适的原因之一，

is this lingering concern

是一个挥之不去的忧虑，

that if we separate sex from reproduction, we're going to promote promiscuity.

如果我们独立地看待性交和生殖， 滥交将不可避免。

And I think that's a reasonable question to be asked about contraception --

而我觉得有关避孕的问题 是非常合理的——

what is its impact on sexual morality?

避孕对性道德的影响究竟是什么？

But, like most women,

但是，如同多数的女性，

my decision about birth control had nothing to do with promiscuity.

我对计划生育所做的决定和滥交无关。

I had a plan for my future. I wanted to go to college.

我对未来有自己的计划。我想上大学。

I studied really hard in college,

我在大学里埋头苦读，

and I was proud to be one of the very few female computer science graduates

我很荣幸可以成为大学里 少数选修计算机科学的

at my university.

女性毕业生之一。

I wanted to have a career, so I went on to business school

我想拥有自己的事业， 所以我接着报读了商学院，

and I became one of the youngest female executives at Microsoft.

后来我成为了 微软最年轻的女性行政人员之一。

I still remember, though, when I left my parents' home

我仍然还记得离开父母，

to move across the country to start this new job at Microsoft.

移居到另一个城市， 开始在微软的新工作的时候。

They had sacrificed a lot to give me five years of higher education.

为了让我接受五年的高等教育， 我的父母牺牲了很多。

But they said, as I left home --

可是在我离家，

and I literally went down the front steps, down the porch at home --

走下台阶，走到门廊的时候，

and they said,

他们对我说，

"Even though you've had this great education,

"虽然你接受了良好的教育，

if you decide to get married and have kids right away,

但如果你决定马上结婚生子，

that's OK by us, too."

我们都会支持你的。"

They wanted me to do the thing that would make me the very happiest.

他们希望我能做令我最开心的事情。

I was free to decide what that would be.

我有自己做决定的自由。

It was an amazing feeling.

那是一种很棒的感觉。

In fact, I did want to have kids --

其实，我确实想要孩子——

but I wanted to have them when I was ready.

但我想在做好准备的情况下再去生。

And so now, Bill and I have three.

现在，我和比尔拥有三个孩子。

And when our eldest daughter was born,

当我们的长女出生时，

we weren't, I would say, exactly sure how to be great parents.

我们不确定如何当好父母。

Maybe some of you know that feeling.

可能你们当中会有人明白那种感觉。

And so we waited a little while before we had our second child.

于是，我们隔了一段日子 才生下第二个孩子。

And it's no accident that we have three children

我们三个孩子的出生都隔了三年的时间，

that are spaced three years apart.

这并不难理解。

Now, as a mother, what do I want the very most for my children?

身为母亲， 我对孩子最大的期望是什么呢？

I want them to feel the way I did --

我希望他们会和当年的我 有同样的感受——

like they can do anything they want to do in life.

比如他们一生都可以做 所有自己想做的事。

And so, what has struck me

过去的十年里，

as I've travelled the last decade for the foundation around the world

我为了基金会的事情走遍了世界，

is that all women want that same thing.

发现所有女性也都想要这样的生活。

Last year, I was in Nairobi, in the slums, in one called Korogocho --

去年，我拜访了内罗毕（非洲）的 一个叫科罗戈乔的贫民窟——

which literally means when translated, "standing shoulder to shoulder."

地名直译的意思是"肩并肩地站着"。

And I spoke with this women's group that's pictured here.

我和照片里的女性团体交流。

And the women talked very openly about their family life in the slums,

女人们坦诚地聊起在 贫民窟里的家庭生活，

what it was like.

到底是什么样子的。

And they talked quite intimately about what they did for birth control.

她们也毫不避讳地聊起如何避孕。

Marianne, in the center of the screen in the red sweater,

这位屏幕中央穿着红外套的女人 叫马丽安，

she summed up that entire two-hour conversation

她用了一句话为整个两小时的谈话

in a phrase that I will never forget.

做了一个总结，让我十分难忘。

She said, "I want to bring every good thing to this child

她说，"我想确保现在这个孩子 能拥有最好的，

before I have another."

然后再考虑生第二个。"

And I thought -- that's it.

我想——就是这样了。

That's universal.

这是最普遍的想法。

We all want to bring every good thing to our children.

我们都想让孩子们拥有最好的。

But what's not universal is our ability to provide every good thing.

但不是所有人都有能力 为孩子提供最好的。

So many women suffer from domestic violence.

很多女人都遭受家庭暴力。

And they can't even broach the subject of contraception,

她们甚至根本不能提及避孕，

even inside their own marriage.

即便是在自己的婚姻中。

There are many women who lack basic education.

很多女人都缺乏基础教育。

Even many of the women who do have knowledge and do have power

很多有知识和权力的女人

don't have access to contraceptives.

甚至都无法采取避孕措施。

For 250 years, parents around the world

在过去的250年里，世界各地的父母

have been deciding to have smaller families.

都决定建立比较小的家庭。

This trend has been steady for a quarter of a millennium,

这个趋势稳定了250年，

across cultures and across geographies,

无论他们处在什么样的 地理和文化背景下。

with the glaring exception of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

除了南非洲和南亚地区以外。

The French started bringing down their family size in the mid-1700s.

在18世纪中期， 法国人就开始减小家庭规模。

And over the next 150 years, this trend spread all across Europe.

在接下来的150年里， 这个趋势蔓延到了整个欧洲。

The surprising thing to me, as I learned this history,

我在学习这段历史的时候， 令我惊讶的是，

was that it spread not along socioeconomic lines but around cultural lines.

导致这种趋势蔓延的并不是 社会科学的考量，而是文化的考量。

People who spoke the same language made that change as a group.

用共同语言沟通的人们携手改变了趋势。

They made the same choice for their family,

他们都为了家庭而作出了同样的选择，

whether they were rich or whether they were poor.

无关贫富。

The reason that trend toward smaller families spread

倾向小家庭的趋势之所以会蔓延，

was that this whole way was driven by an idea --

是因为这个方式是 由一个想法引起的——

the idea that couples can exercise conscious control

那个想法就是夫妻们有权力

over how many children they have.

刻意地掌控家庭人口数量。

This is a very powerful idea.

这是很有影响力的想法。

It means that parents have the ability to affect the future,

这意味着父母们有权力影响未来，

not just accept it as it is.

而不必接受一切现实。

In France, the average family size went down every decade

在法国，家庭的平均人口数量 每十年都会发生缩减，

for 150 years in a row until it stabilized.

直到150年后才稳定下来。

It took so long back then because the contraceptives weren't that good.

过渡期如此之长主要是因为 那时侯的避孕方式效果并不好。

In Germany, this transition started in the 1880s, and it took just 50 years

在德国，这个趋势在19世纪末 就已经开始了，仅仅五十年的时间

for family size to stabilize in this country.

家庭人口数量就稳定了下来。

And in Asia and Latin America, the transition started in the 1960s,

亚洲和拉美的过渡期发生在1960年代，

and it happened much faster because of modern contraception.

因为有了现代的避孕法， 过渡期更短了。

I think, as we go through this history, it's important to pause for a moment

但我认为，在我们回顾这短历史的时候， 应该停下来想想，

and to remember why this has become such a contentious issue.

这个话题为什么如此惹争议。

It's because some family planning programs

这是因为有的家庭计划项目

resorted to unfortunate incentives and coercive policies.

采取了不正当的奖励及强制性的政策。

For instance, in the 1960s, India adopted very specific numeric targets

比如，在1960年代， 印度制定了很具体的数字指标，

and they paid women to accept having an IUD placed in their bodies.

他们会奖励愿意把 节育器安装在体内的女性。

Now, Indian women were really smart in this situation.

面对这种情况， 印度的女人表现得很聪明。

When they went to get an IUD inserted, they got paid six rupees.

她们安装节育器时，得到了六个卢比。

And so what did they do?

然后她们做了什么呢？

They waited a few hours or a few days,

她们等了几个小时或几天，

and they went to another service provider and had the IUD removed for one rupee.

然后到另一个服务提供者那里， 用一个卢比把节育器拿出来。

For decades in the United States,

几十年来，在美国，

African-American women were sterilized without their consent.

非洲裔美国女性往往在 未经同意的情况下被节育。

The procedure was so common

这种程序非常普遍，

it became known as the Mississippi appendectomy --

被称为密西西比阑尾切除术——

a tragic chapter in my country's history.

是我国历史中一个悲惨的章节。

And as recently as the 1990s, in Peru,

更近一点的，1990年代的秘鲁，

women from the Andes region were given anesthesia

安第斯山脉地区的女性 被迫服下麻醉药，

and they were sterilized without their knowledge.

然后在不知情的情况下被节育了。

The most startling thing about this

最惊人的是，

is that these coercive policies weren't even needed.

这些强制性的政策完全是多余的。

They were carried out in places

它们实行在

where parents already wanted to lower their family size.

已经开始减小家庭规模的地方。

Because in region after region, again and again,

因为在一个又一个的地区，一次又一次，

parents have wanted to have smaller families.

父母们都不约而同想要缩减家庭规模。

There's no reason to believe

我们没有理由相信

that African women have innately different desires.

非洲女性生来就有不同的欲望。

Given the option, they will have fewer children.

如果有选择的话， 她们会选择少生孩子。

The question is:

问题是：

will we invest in helping all women get what they want now?

我们会竭尽所能帮助 全体女性争取她们的权利吗？

Or, are we going to condemn them to some century-long struggle,

或者，我们只能眼睁睁 看着她们再挣扎几十年，

as if this was still revolutionary France

仿佛这还是法国革命时期，

and the best method was coitus interruptus?

而最好的方法是体外射精？

Empowering parents -- it doesn't need justification.

赋予父母们应有的权利—— 并不需要理由。

But here's the thing -- our desire to bring every good thing to our children

不过，我们想让孩子拥有 最好的一切的欲望，

is a force for good throughout the world.

是能够让世界变得更好的力量。

It's what propels societies forward.

这推动了社会的进步。

In that same slum in Nairobi, I met a young businesswoman,

在奈罗比的同一个贫民窟， 我遇到了一个年轻的女商人，

and she was making backpacks out of her home.

她正在家门口做背包。

She and her young kids would go to the local jeans factory

她和年幼的孩子会到当地的牛仔裤工厂，

and collect scraps of denim.

去收集剩余的牛仔布料。

She'd create these backpacks and resell them.

她会做好背包然后把它们转售。

在我们的谈话中，她说她有三个孩子，

And when I talked with her, she had three children,

and I asked her about her family.

我问了她的家庭情况。

她说她和丈夫决定

And she said she and her husband decided

that they wanted to stop having children after their third one.

在生下第三个孩子之后，就不再生了。

And so when I asked her why, she simply said,

我问她为什么，她只是说，

"Well, because I couldn't run my business if I had another child."

"如果再多一个孩子， 我就不能做生意了。"

And she explained the income that she was getting out of her business

她解释说做生意赚来的钱，

afforded her to be able to give an education to all three of her children.

使她有能力让三个孩子们都接受教育。

She was incredibly optimistic about her family's future.

对于家庭的未来，她表现得非常乐观。

This is the same mental calculus

这种内心的衡量，

that hundreds of millions of men and women have gone through.

是成千上万的男人女人都经历过的。

And evidence proves that they have it exactly right.

而事实证明他们的决定是明智的。

They are able to give their children more opportunities

他们通过合理的控制生育，

by exercising control over when they have them.

有能力让孩子们拥有更多的机遇。

In Bangladesh,

在孟加拉，

there's a district called Matlab.

有个叫 Matlab 的县。

It's where researchers have collected data on over 180,000 inhabitants since 1963.

那里的研究人员从1963 年开始， 收集了超过了18万居民的资料。

In the global health community,

在全球卫生界内，

we like to say it's one of the longest pieces of research that's been running.

我们认为这是为期最久的研究之一。

我们拥有很多很好的卫生数据。

We have so many great health statistics.

In one of the studies, what did they do?

在其中一项研究当中，他们做了什么？

Half the villagers were chosen to get contraceptives.

他们让一半的村民了解如何避孕。

They got education and access to contraception.

他们得到了避孕方面的教育， 获得了必要的避孕工具。

Twenty years later, following those villages,

在20年后对这些村子的随访中，

what we learned is that they had a better quality of life than their neighbors.

我们发现这些村民都拥有 比邻居们优越的生活水平。

The families were healthier.

实施避孕的家庭比较健康。

The women were less likely to die in childbirth.

更少的女性会难产而死。

Their children were less likely to die in the first thirty days of life.

孩子们在生下来的三十天内 死亡的可能性也减少了。

The children were better nourished.

孩子们获得了更好的营养补充。

The families were also wealthier.

家庭也都比较富裕。

The adult women's wages were higher.

成年女性的工资都比较高。

Households had more assets -- things like livestock or land or savings.

家家户户都有较多资产， 例如畜牧业、土地和储蓄。

Finally, their sons and daughters had more schooling.

最后，他们的儿女 都接受了更多的教育。

So when you multiply these types of effects over millions of families,

当你们把这些影响 乘以数百万个家庭的时候，

the product can be large-scale economic development.

得到的可能是大型的经济发展。

People talk about the Asian economic miracle of the 1980s --

人们都会谈起1980年代 亚洲的经济奇迹——

but it wasn't really a miracle.

但那并不是奇迹。

One of the leading causes of economic growth across that region

那个区域的经济之所以会 快速发展的主要原因之一，

was this cultural trend towards smaller families.

是倾向小家庭的文化趋势。

Sweeping changes start at the individual family level --

广泛的变化发生在了个人家庭中——

the family making a decision about what's best for their children.

家庭为孩子们的未来 做出了最好的选择。

When they make that change and that decision,

他们做出的选择和改变，

those become sweeping regional and national trends.

成为了地区性和全国性的广泛趋势。

When families in sub-Saharan Africa are given the opportunity

当撒哈拉以南的非洲家庭得到

to make those decisions for themselves,

为自己做出选择的机会时，

I think it will help spark a virtuous cycle of development

我觉得这就会在整个 大洲的社区中推动

in communities across the continent.

触发发展的良性循环。

We can help poor families build a better future.

我们可以帮助贫困家庭建立更好的未来。

We can insist that all people have the opportunity

我们可以坚决主张所有人都有机会

to learn about contraceptives

认识避孕，

and have access to the full variety of methods.

以及得到齐全的避孕方式的途径。

I think the goal here is really clear:

我认为现在的目标很明确：

universal access to birth control that women want.

最大范围的让女性得到想要的避孕措施。

And for that to happen, it means that both rich and poor governments alike

而为了实现这个目标， 所有的政府，不论贫富，

must make contraception a total priority.

都必须让避孕得到重视。

We can do our part, in this room and globally,

我们可以在这个房间里， 或者在全球范围内尽自己的力量，

by talking about the hundreds of millions of families

通过谈论上亿个

that don't have access to contraception today

无法合理避孕的家庭，

and what it would do to change their lives if they did have access.

以及他们如果能避孕，生活将如何改变。

I think if Marianne and the members of her women's group

我想如果马丽安和女性团体的成员

can talk about this openly

能够公开地谈论这个话题，

and have this discussion out amongst themselves and in public,

能够在彼此和公众间讨论这个话题，

we can, too.

我们也一样可以。

And we need to start now.

我们必须现在就开始行动。

Because like Marianne, we all want to bring every good thing to our children.

因为像马丽安一样， 我们都想让自己的孩子拥有最好的。

And where is the controversy in that?

而在这个问题上， 是否还存在任何争议呢？

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）

Chris Anderson: Thank you.

克里斯 安德勋（CA）： 谢谢。

I have some questions for Melinda.

我有一些问题想问梅琳达。

(Applause ends)

（掌声终止）

Thank you for your courage and everything else.

谢谢你的勇敢和所做的一切。

So, Melinda, in the last few years

梅琳达，在过去的几年里，

I've heard a lot of smart people say something to the effect of,

我听过很多聪明的人说过类似的话，

"We don't need to worry about the population issue anymore.

"我们不必担心人口问题了。

Family sizes are coming down naturally all over the world.

家庭规模已在世界范围内不断减小，

We're going to peak at nine or 10 billion. And that's it."

我们的人口最多增加到 90或者100亿人。就这样。"

Are they wrong?

他们错了吗？

Melinda Gates: If you look at the statistics across Africa,

梅琳达·盖茨（MG）： 如果你看看非洲的数据，

他们的确错了。

they are wrong.

And I think we need to look at it, though, from a different lens.

我认为我们需要以 不同的角度来看待问题。

We need to look at it from the ground upwards.

我们需要追源溯本的看问题，

I think that's one of the reasons we got ourselves in so much trouble

我觉得这是我们在避孕的问题上 给自己惹了

on this issue of contraception.

这么多麻烦的原因之一、

We looked at it from top down

我们只是着眼现在这个时间点，

and said we want to have different population numbers over time.

然后说我们想要在未来 有不同的人口数据。

Yes, we care about the planet. Yes, we need to make the right choices.

没错，我们关心地球。 没错，我们需要做出正确的选择。

But the choices have to be made at the family level.

但这些选择必须以家庭为重。

And it's only by giving people access and letting them choose what to do

只有让人们有能力和途径 选择想做的事，

that you get those sweeping changes that we have seen globally --

才能得到那些全球性的广泛变化——

except for sub-Saharan Africa and those places in South Asia and Afghanistan.

除了南非和南亚、阿富汗的某些地区。

CA: Some people on the right in America

CA: 有些在美国，

and in many conservative cultures around the world

以及在世界各地的 很多保守的文化里的人，

might say something like this:

可能会说类似这样的话：

"It's all very well to talk about saving lives and empowering women and so on.

"谈论拯救生命，赋予女性权利 等等的问题是没错。

But, sex is sacred.

但性爱是神圣的。

What you're proposing is going to increase the likelihood

你的提议将会增加

that lots of sex happens outside marriage.

性爱发生在婚姻外的可能性。

And that is wrong."

而那是不对的。"

What would you say to them?

你会对他们说什么？

MG: I would say that sex is absolutely sacred.

MG：我会说性爱的确是神圣的。

And it's sacred in Germany, and it's sacred in the United States,

它在德国、美国是神圣的。

and it's sacred in France and so many places around the world.

它在法国和世界各国都是神圣的。

And the fact that 98 percent of women in my country who are sexually experienced

在我国98％有性经验的女性表示，

say they use birth control doesn't make sex any less sacred.

使用节育措施并不会 让性爱变得不再神圣。

It just means that they're getting to make choices about their lives.

这只是代表她们 能为自己的生活做选择。

我觉得在做选择的时候，

And I think in that choice,

we're also honoring the sacredness of the family

我们也在尊敬家庭，

and the sacredness of the mother's life

和一位母亲的生命，

and the childrens' lives by saving their lives.

以及挽救孩子的生命的神圣。

To me, that's incredibly sacred, too.

那也是非常神圣的。

CA: So what is your foundation doing to promote this issue?

CA： 你的基金会如何提倡这个问题？

And what could people here and people listening on the web --

这里的人和在网络上的观众——

what would you like them to do?

你希望他们做些什么？

MG: I would say this -- join the conversation.

MG：我想说——要积极参与讨论，

We've listed the website up here. Join the conversation.

我们在屏幕上列出了网站。 请加入我们的讨论。

告诉我们避孕如何改变了你的生活，

Tell your story about how contraception has either changed your life

or somebody's life that you know.

或你认识的人的生活。

And say that you're for this.

然后说你赞同这种做法。

We need a groundswell of people saying, "This makes sense.

我们需要听到越来越多的人说， "这很有道理。

我们需要让全体女性获得避孕的措施—— 不论她们身在何处。"

We've got to give all women access -- no matter where they live."

And one of the things that we're going to do

而我们将会做的事情之一

is do a large event July 11 in London,

就是7月11号在伦敦 举办一个大型的活动，

with a whole host of countries, a whole host of African nations,

跟许多国家，包括许多非洲国家，

to all say we're putting this back on the global health agenda.

宣布我们要把这个（避孕） 重新列入全球卫生议程里。

We're going to commit resources to it,

我们将会投入资源，

and we're going to do planning from the bottom up with governments

并与政府从基层开始策划，

to make sure that women are educated --

以确保女性受到避孕方面的教育——

so that if they want the tool, they have it,

让她们可以在需要的时候 得到避孕工具，

and that they have lots of options available

也会有很多的选择，

either through their local healthcare worker

无论是通过当地的卫生保健员，

or their local community rural clinic.

还是当地的社区诊所。

CA: Melinda, I'm guessing that some of those nuns who taught you at school

CA：我猜想在学校教过你的一些修女

are going to see this TED Talk at some point.

总有一天会看到这个讲座。

Are they going to be horrified, or are they cheering you on?

她们会为你的所作所为吓到， 还是会为你感到高兴？

MG: I know they're going to see the TED Talk

MG：我知道她们会看到这个讲座，

because they know that I'm doing it and I plan to send it to them.

因为她们知道我会举办这个讲座， 而且我打算把讲座发给她们。

And, you know, the nuns who taught me were incredibly progressive.

你知道吗，教过我的修女们 观念非常与时俱进。

I hope that they'll be very proud of me

我希望她们会以我为荣，

for living out what they taught us about social justice and service.

因为我实践了她们教会我的 社会正义和服务。

I have come to feel incredibly passionate about this issue

我已经开始对这个问题非常的关切，

because of what I've seen in the developing world.

介于我在发展中的 世界里所看到的一切。

And for me, this topic has become very close to heart

对我而言， 这个课题已经根植于我的内心，

because you meet these women and they are so often voiceless.

因为我亲眼见到了 这些没有话语权的女人。

And yet they shouldn't be --

但她们本不应该这样——

they should have a voice, they should have access.

她们应该表达自己的意见， 应该有途径避孕。

And so I hope they'll feel

我希望她们会觉得

that I'm living out what I've learned from them

我实践了从她们身上,

and from the decades of work that I've already done at the foundation.

以及我通过在基金会 几十年的工作所学到的。

CA: So, you and your team brought together today an amazing group of speakers

CA：今天，你和你的队伍集合了 一群很棒的演讲人，

to whom we're all grateful.

我们很感激。

Did you learn anything?

你学到了什么吗？

(Laughter)

（笑声）

MG: Oh my gosh, I learned so many things. I have so many follow-up questions.

MG：我学到了好多。 我有好多跟进的问题。

And I think a lot of this work is a journey.

我觉得这项工作是个充满未知的旅程。

You heard the discussion about the journey through energy,

你听到了关于能量的讨论，

or the journey through social design,

或者社会设计，

or the journey in the coming and saying,

或者还有这样的质疑，

"Why aren't there any women on this platform?"

"为什么这个平台上没有任何的女性？"

And I think for all of us who work on these development issues,

我觉得我们这些从事发展问题的人，

you learn by talking to other people.

都是通过与人交流来学习的。

You learn by doing. You learn by trying and making mistakes.

你通过实践来学习。 你通过尝试和犯错来学习。

And it's the questions you ask.

你问的问题也很重要。

Sometimes it's the questions you ask that helps lead to the answer

有的时候是你的提问帮忙引出了答案，

the next person that can help you answer it.

也许下一个人就能够回答你的问题。

So I have lots of questions for the panelists from today.

今天我给小组成员准备了很多问题。

And I thought it was just an amazing day.

我觉得这会是很精彩的一天。

CA: Melinda, thank you for inviting all of us on this journey with you.

CA： 梅琳达，谢谢你邀请我们和你 一起搭上这个旅程。

非常感谢你。 MG：没问题。谢谢你，克里斯。

Thank you so much. MG: Great. Thanks, Chris.