Recent news
February 2011
Bill Gates emphasizes polio eradication and vaccines in annual letter
February 1, 2011 -- In his third annual letter, Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, called for a global effort to eradicate polio. “Let us pave the way for a future where children, no matter where they live, are not at risk of polio," Gates said, adding, "We owe it not only to the children of today but the generations of people who made the progress that we have."
Gates also stressed the crucial role of immunizations in tackling polio and other vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, pneumonia and tetanus. “This year 1.4 million children will die from diseases for which there are already vaccines—diseases like measles, pneumonia, and tetanus. Those lives can be saved if we can reduce the costs of vaccines and raise enough money to buy and distribute them,” Gates said, adding, “In addition, researchers are inventing new vaccines for malaria, AIDS, and tuberculosis, and these would save millions more lives. But generous aid is required to realize the true lifesaving potential of vaccines. The most direct way of saying this is that every $2,000 cut in the most effective aid spending causes a child to die.”
In addition, Gates called on governments around the world to continue investing in foreign aid, saying that failure to do so would destabilize the world. "I believe it is in the world's enlightened self-interest to continue investing in foreign aid," Gates wrote, adding that if societies cannot provide for their citizens’ education and basic health, "then their populations and problems will grow and the world will be a less stable place.” See the links below for more details.
