In developing countries, individuals and families struggle with the burden of poverty which impacts their health and welfare. The Gates Institute seeks to protect reproductive and population outcomes by ensuring all pregnancies are wanted, healthy, safely delivered and equitably experienced by all individuals locally and globally.

The mission of the Gates Institute is to build individual and institutional capacity in countries of the developing world to strengthen the effectiveness of population, family planning, and reproductive health policies and programs. The Institute works with leadership in the academic, private, and public sectors to build skills and enable these entities to strengthen one another and the institutions they serve.

Established in 1999 with the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Gates Institute is housed within the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.