London, 11th July 2012. Prime Minister David Cameron, speaking at the London Summit on Family Planning.

British aid will save the life of a woman or girl in the developing world every two hours for the next eight years, Prime Minister David Cameron said today at the London Summit on Family Planning.

The British Government and co-host the The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation brought together representatives from governments, the private sector, donors and civil society groups who pledged to halve the number of girls and women in developing countries who want - but lack access to - modern contraception.

Britain’s support, which comes from the existing aid budget, will provide an additional 24 million girls and women with family planning services between now and 2020. This will prevent the deaths of around 42,000 girls and women for whom an unintended pregnancy carries the risk of fatal consequences.

Developing countries at the summit made commitments to strengthen and promote women’s rights to family planning and increase access to information, services and supplies.

This afternoon International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell announced that the summit had met its target to provide family planning to 120 million more women.

Andrew Mitchell said:

"This is an extraordinary breakthrough for millions of the world's girls and women. Thanks to the pledges made today 120m more women will be able to choose whether when and how many children to have.