The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation spends billions of dollars each year “trying to improve the lives of the extremely impoverished and the health of people living in developing countries.” Research on new drugs and vaccines received “more than a third of the money between 1998 and 2007.” They are attempting to help farmers in poorer countries grow more food and earn additional money, and they fund multiple groups and nongovernmental organizations that have an idea or an approach to a health problem.1
“At the same time 5 percent of the money is spent lobbying and promoting their line of attack.” By taking on “the failures of Americas’ education system” they have waded into waters where experts disagree. They were not elected and are not accountable to voters. And critics ask if “wealth is good for society and question reliance on the generosity of the very rich to fix the problems of so many2.”
Some of their decisions are controversial. But, in contrast to the philanthropists who have long given fortunes to universities, leading hospitals, and libraries, the foundation is focusing the fortunes of a wealthy few on the health of the impoverished. In today’s world I think that makes it a game changer.
One of the founders, Bill Gates created Microsoft when he was in his 20s. “An individual with an amazing mind, he reads 150 words and hour and retains 90% of the material. Anticipating the world of the future, he became an obsessed, intuitive computer programmer. When asked about his greatest fear he once said: “I don’t want my brain to stop.” His wife Melinda described what was going on in Bill’s head as “chaos. He thrives on complexity.”8
One of Gates’ foundation’s projects was inspired by a Nicholas Kristof article titled “In the third world water is still a deadly drink”, Gates learned that half the world’s population lives in tightly packed dwellings that don’t have pipes that bring water in or fecal waste out.3 Since human waste smells bad, people defecate outside and the waste is dumped into streams that flow into the rivers that are the source of water people drink. Not long ago 12 percent of kids who were impoverished were dying before they were 5 years old. Many had diarrhea. The foundation sponsored a contest for the best toilet that didn’t pollute. Many entered. $350 million dollars and a few years later, 4000 homes in India had the first composting toilets. They use worms whose natural habitat is cow dung, to sanitize feces.4
The foundation also attempted to eradicate polio. A viral infection that usually infects without causing symptoms, polio can cause marked muscle weakness. The immunizations were successful in most of the world, though Gates had to use a computer to map out Nigeria and figure out which villages had been missed. When they neared their goal Boko Haram fighters in Nigeria got in their way. In Pakistan, and Afghanistan they encountered political and religious opposition. Some Muslim fundamentalists called polio vaccination an American ploy to sterilize Muslim populations and an attempt to avert Allah’s will. Militants killed more than 70 polio workers after the attacks began in 2012.5
The foundation spends money fighting HIV and Malaria, and it helps fund Gavi, an “international organization that “buys vaccines and supports low-income countries that deliver them to children.” By 2019, Gavi had helped vaccinate more than 760 million children and the organization claims they prevented 13 million deaths. The Gates foundation got the cost of an injection that prevents 5 common viral diseases lowered from $3.65 to less than a dollar.’7
When asked in a Netflix series (whose content they were probably allowed to veto), if they were imposing their values on other cultures, Melinda answered: “The idea that children shouldn’t die of malaria or be malnourished is not just our value. It’s a human value. Parents in every culture want their children to survive and thrive. One of the most important parts of their “job”, they argued, is to listen. Good health leads to a decrease, not an increase in population. When more children live past the age of 5, and mothers can decide if and when to have children, population sizes fall.8
Since climate change will contribute to crop failures, starvation, poverty, unrest and disease, Gates and the foundation are working hard to try to find a way to end the CO2 emissions that have started harming all of us and especially the poor, of the planet. The fund is using their money to test out potential nuclear innovations. They plan to let businesses and governments scale up and sustain what works.7
In a once largely ignored 2015 TED talk Bill Gates warned “the greatest risk of a global catastrophe, if anything kills many millions in the next few decades it will likely be a highly infectious virus.” When Covid-19, the coronavirus clobbered the planet in 2020 Gates “was deeply shaken. Everyday he was like….are we really in this situation. Wow.” The foundation’s normal functions were largely curtained and its resources were diverted to trying to find solutions.8
- https://www.gatesfoundation.org/Who-We-Are/General-Information/Foundation-Factsheet
- . https://apnews.com/b1279711ee234b3ab3916d292d262643
- Kristoff https://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/09/world/for-third-world-water-is-still-a-deadly-drink.html
4. compostable toilets https://www.thebetterindia.com/169569/india-eco-friendly-green-toilet-waterless-gates-foundation/
5.https://www.researchgate.net/publication/26289133_Religious_Opposition_to_Polio_Vaccination https://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/articles/cultural-perspectives-vaccination
7. Gavi https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2749793