[whyenot]

land that currently provides enough rice to feed 27 people will need to support 43 by 2050

if there were fewer mouths, you would need less rice. I realize it isn't an area the Gates Foundation is active in, but there is quite a bit of evidence that educating and empowering women reduces population growth[1]. In many parts of the world women are still treated like property, forced into marriage, and have no access to family planning or education.

1. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-women-can-sav...

[makmanalp]

And quite often also educating men:

> President Recep Tayyip Erdogan encourages women to have at least three children.

> "No matter how successful a woman is, a woman who denies her motherhood, who gives up on looking after the home is incomplete, is only half, is at risk of losing her uniqueness," Erdogan said Sunday during a speech to the Women and Democracy Association.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/09/europe/erdogan-turkey-mansplai...

[me_again]

Actually that is an area the Gates Foundation is active in: http://www.gatesfoundation.org/What-We-Do/Global-Development...

[tcj_phx]

From your link:

>> Invest in New Contraceptive Methods

>> Some women do not access or use contraceptives for a variety of reasons, even when they want to avoid pregnancy. They may have misconceptions about their risk of becoming pregnant, or be deterred by the cost, inconvenience, or concerns about side effects. ... "

The Gates Foundation is paying for "a reformulation of Pfizer’s Depo-Provera® (medroxyprogesterone acetate)" [1]. The usual side effect of this drug is gaining weight. Usually it's about 20 pounds. Some women gain 40+ pounds after a few rounds of this drug [2].

[1] http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases/2... [2] https://www.reddit.com/user/ihateyoudepo

I suspect that the Depo Provera injections at about age 20 is what turned my friend into a drug addict. Drug use caused her first psychotic episodes, and her first court-ordered psychiatrists weren't smart enough to make the connection between her previous use of a prescription endocrine disruptor (Provera) and the following depression that she self-treated with street drugs.

Anyone who uses Provera drug is ignorant of the harm it actually causes, or is malicious.

edit: fixed italics above edit2: changed txt above to 'endocrine disruptor'

[GFK_of_xmaspast]

> I suspect that the Depo Provera injections at about age 20 is what turned my friend into a drug addict

Have you considered that post hoc is not necessarily proper hoc.

[tcj_phx]

> Have you considered that post hoc is not necessarily proper hoc.

Disruption of the endocrine glands is on the drug safety information [1]:

  Effects on the Hypothalmic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis

  Some patients receiving medroxyprogesterone acetate may 
  exhibit suppressed adrenal function. Medroxyprogesterone 
  acetate may have cortisol-like glucocorticoid activity 
  and provide negative feedback to the hypothalamus or 
  pituitary. This may result in decreased plasma cortisol 
  levels, decreased cortisol secretion, and low plasma ACTH 
  levels. The use of DEPO-PROVERA Sterile Aqueous 
  Suspension may, due to its cortisol-like glucocorticoid 
  activity, also produce Cushingoid symptoms such as weight 
  gain, edema/fluid retention, and facial swelling.

[1] http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/SafetyInformation/ucm2323...

edit: p.s. Thanks for commenting, I'd never looked at Depo Provera's safety information before. Someone else had said that he thought that Depot-Provera's FDA approval, in spite of what's known about it, is a good example of 'Regulatory Capture'. Psychosis is associated with cortisol deficiency [2], so this safety information strongly supports my theory about the origin of my friend's mental health struggles.

[2] https://www.jcu.edu.au/news/releases/2016/june/stress-hormon...