International Development Minister Lynne Featherstone met with the First Lady of Zambia, Dr Christine Kaseba-Sata - who represented Zambia at the London Summit on Family Planning this year.

Mothers in Zambia are 75 times more likely to die in pregnancy than mothers in the UK. Zambia has made commitments to double its budget to family planning commodities, to improve universal coverage, to begin dialogue with religious and traditional leaders and to allow some community health workers to deliver more family planning methods. An eight year plan is expected to be launched this month.

The First Lady of Zambia, Dr Kaseba-Sata, is a consultant obstetrician & gynaecologist who worked at the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka for more than 25 years. She became a Member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in London in 1995. She has lectured at the school of medicine for over 15 years and has been involved in key reproductive health research projects and is a national trainer in many areas, including gender based violence. She has developed many of the clinical reproductive health guidelines for Zambia and sits on key national committees including the cervical cancer taskforce. She has also established Ubutala Ubwa Bumi (A Haven of Wellbeing) Community Initiative.

Follow the visit to Zambia

Follow Lynne Featherstone's visit in Zambia on her blog for the Huffington Post UK with live updates on Twitter @DFID_UK and @lfeatherstone.

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