International
Bill Gates
Uniting to fight neglected tropical diseases
This Monday at 11 am GMT you can watch a historic live event that demonstrates how building partnerships between aid agencies and pharmaceutical companies can make big differences in health and development for millions of people living in the world’s poorest countries. World experts including Bill Gates and Dr Margaret Chan (Director of the World Health Organisation) will be taking part in a live webcast from London to discuss neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) – diseases which effect 1 billion poor people around the world.
You can watch the event on this page, and follow the buzz online using #NTD, #NTDs and #partnership hashtags. We will also be tweeting updates on the @ONEcampaign account.
Over the past week there have been a number of events celebrating the progress that’s being made towards saving lives – Bill Gates has published his annual letter and defended aid spending during difficult times at the European Parliament, and the Global Fund has celebrated 10 years of saving over 7.7 million lives.
But there’s still much more to do, the partners speaking at this event aim to combat NTDs and drive progress toward the World Health Organization’s goals for control or elimination by 2020.
The event will feature:
- Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General, World Health Organization
- CEOs of Nine Leading Pharmaceutical Companies
- Bill Gates, Co-Chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
- Senior Government Officials from Tanzania, Mozambique, Brazil and Zanzibar
- Stephen O’Brien, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, UK Department for International Development
- Dr. Bernard Pécoul, Executive Director, Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative
- Dr. Ariel Pablos-Méndez, Assistant Administrator for Global Health, US Agency for International Development
- Dr. Caroline Anstey, Managing Director, World Bank
- Moderated by: Riz Khan, Al Jazeera English
We have the opportunity to help the more than one billion people affected by NTDs lead healthier, more productive lives. And by working collaboratively, we can achieve more together than any one of us could on our own.
For more about neglected tropical diseases check out http://www.unitingtocombatntds.org
Required reading in Davos
As the world’s business, political and media elite made their annual trek to the Swiss town of Davos – blanketed in more snow than I have seen there for a decade – conventional wisdom had it they should have all the lightheartedness of a gray, winter, Alpine sky. The Eurozone crisis, the difficulty of getting tough political decisions in the United States, and worries in some of the champions among emerging markets – the chance of a property crash in China, for example, or of runaway inflation in India – were all said to contribute to a note of pessimism among Davos devotees.
But even if you think that the prophets of global economic doom and gloom are right – I don’t, as it happens, but that’s another story – there are plenty of reasons to be cheerful about the state of the world. Some of them were collected in Bill Gates’s annual letter on the work of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which should be required reading for the Davos crowd. The letter detailed some of the extraordinary advances that have been made in global health, for example, over the past decades, with the roll out of vaccines on a massive scale, tremendous progress, especially in India, on the eradication of polio, and, indeed, on the treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS. I was particularly pleased that Bill’s letter made mention of the rotavirus vaccine that GAVI is rolling out to tackle one of the leading causes of diarrhea – an appalling killer of children, and one which has rarely gotten the public or political dissension that it deserves.
Of course, the letter pointed out how much more needed to be done so that all people, everywhere, could live lives of equal dignity. More funding needs to be devoted to research and development in agriculture – a key goal of ONE this year. Those of us who advocate for increased resources to go to the world’s poor appreciate that in tough economic times, we have our work cut out for us. But when generous funders like the Gates Foundation and taxpayers around the world have done so much to combat extreme poverty and preventable disease in the last ten years, now would be the very worst moment to give up the fight. That fight is more likely to be won, as Bill pointed out in a passage on the need for more resources for The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria that is worth quoting at length, if citizens in the rich world understood just how much could be done with comparatively few resources.
“Between 2011 and 2013, assuming that all donors honor their commitments, the Global Fund will disburse $10 billion. This is a $2 billion increase, but not nearly the $12–$14 billion that is needed and was hoped for. Citizens of donor countries should know about the difference their generosity has made. The cost of keeping a patient on AIDS drugs has been coming down, and it looks like getting it to $300 per patient per year should be achievable. That will mean every $300 that governments invest in the Global Fund will put another person on treatment for a year. Every $300 that’s not forthcoming will represent a person taken off treatment. That’s a very clear choice. I believe that if people understood the choice, they would ask their government to save more lives.”
Watch Bill Gates and Hans Rosling LIVE on the challenge of fighting global poverty
It’s been a busy few days for Bill Gates. After presenting Living Proof yesterday in Brussels, he is today in London for the launch of his Annual Letter, which he will discuss with an audience of students and international development experts.
The live online event, hosted by our friends at the Global Poverty Project, marks the launch of its Global Poverty Ambassadors Initiative, which invites people from all walks of life to engage their communities in the campaign against extreme poverty.
Hosted by the London School of Economics (LSE), Bill Gates will cover the key themes of his 2012 Annual Letter, including how innovations in agriculture and health are driving down extreme poverty worldwide. He will be joined by renowned Swedish statistician and advisor to the Global Poverty Project, Hans Rosling.
Elisha London, UK Director of the Global Poverty Project said:
“We are thrilled that Bill Gates has chosen the launch of the Global Poverty Ambassadors to deliver his annual letter. His vision and commitment is an inspiration for these Ambassadors who will mobilise their own communities in the fight to end extreme poverty”.
You can watch the event live at 13.30 GMT / 14.30 CET on the Global Poverty Project website and follow the conversation and tweet questions to #BillsLetter
My 2012 Annual Letter
In this guest post, Bill Gates discusses the themes of his annual letter, which looks back on progress made and lessons learned in the fight against extreme poverty. Originally published on Impatient Optimists, blog of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
My job is to learn about global health and development—and to travel to poor countries to meet farmers who can’t grow enough food, mothers who can’t keep children healthy, and heroes in the field who are doing something about those emergencies. Very few people can devote the time to really understand these complex problems. Even fewer can actually meet the people who are struggling to overcome them. That is why I write an annual letter every year.
I want people to know about the amazing progress we’ve made. I also want them to see how much more progress it will take before we live in a truly equitable world.
In this year’s letter, I focus on food and agriculture (though I also provide updates about all the global health and U.S. education work we do). When I was in high school, a popular book called The Population Bomb painted a nightmarish vision of mass starvation on a planet that has outgrown its carrying capacity. That prediction was wrong, in large part because researchers developed much more productive seeds and other tools that helped poor farmers in many parts of the world multiply their yields. As a result, the percentage of people in extreme poverty has been cut in half in my lifetime. That’s the amazing progress part of the story, and not enough people know it.
But there’s the progress-yet-to-come part, and people need to know that, too. There are still more than 1 billion people who live in extreme poverty. They are located primarily in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, and they live on the edge of starvation. There is an irony in this, because most of them are farmers. We can help these 1 billion achieve self-sufficiency, just like we helped billions before them, but we stopped trying. At a certain point, the sense of crisis around food dissipated, and the proportion of foreign aid dedicated to agriculture dropped from one-fifth to less than one-twentieth.
My hope for my annual letter is that it helps people connect to the choice we all have to make. Relatively small investments changed the future for hundreds of millions of small farm families. The choice now is this: Do we continue those investments so that the 1 billion people who remain poor benefit? Or do we tolerate a world in which one in seven people is undernourished, stunted, and in danger of starving to death?
In times of tight budgets, we have to pick our priorities. It’s clear that in this particular time, we’re in danger of deciding that aid to the poorest is not one of them. I am confident, however, that if people understand what their aid has already accomplished—and its potential to accomplish so much more—they’ll insist on doing more, not less. That is why I wrote my letter. I hope you’ll take the time to read it and share it with your friends and family.
I’ve invited students from around the world to write their own annual letters too. You can send your letter, or any questions you have for me, to annualletter@gatesfoundation.org. I’ll be answering and talking about the ideas in your letters in a live webcast on February 2 on my Facebook page.
Watch Bill Gates live at the European Parliament
Today, Bill Gates will address the Development Committee of the European Parliament in Brussels. After his speech, the newly elected president of the European Parliament, Martin Shultz, will make closing remarks.
Watch the debate live here from 2-3:30 pm CET (1-2:30 GMT/UTC), and share your thoughts using #livingproof on twitter!
Gates will be talking about Living Proof, which shares stories and facts about the incredible progress being achieved by people in developing countries as a result of smart aid investments. Since stepping down from his role as CEO of Microsoft Bill Gates has dedicated himself to the work of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Foundation works with ONE in fighting extreme poverty and poor health in developing countries.
The address on Living Proof comes at a crucial time – this year the European Parliament and EU member states will decide on the EU’s next 7-year budget. The current proposals foresee 57 billion euros for development cooperation, and ONE will be working hard to ensure that European leaders protect this funding aimed at the poorest countries in the world.
Tune in to ONE.org for more info and actions on EU aid in the coming months!
Bill Gates to share the Living Proof in the European Parliament
Tomorrow, Bill Gates will address the Development Committee of the European Parliament in Brussels.
Since stepping down from his role as CEO of Microsoft Bill Gates has dedicated himself to the work of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Foundation works with ONE in fighting extreme poverty and poor health in developing countries particularly through Living Proof, which Gates will be present in Brussels tomorrow at the European Parliament. “Living Proof” shares stories and facts about the incredible progress being achieved by people in developing countries as a result of smart aid investments.
His address comes at a crucial time – this year the European Parliament and EU member states will decide on the EU’s next 7-year budget. The current proposals foresee 57 billion euros for development cooperation, and ONE will be working hard to ensure that European leaders protect this funding aimed at the poorest countries in the world.
After Bill Gates’ speech, the newly elected president of the European Parliament, Martin Shultz, will make closing remarks. Watch it all live here on the ONE blog tomorrow from 2-3:30pm CET (1-2:30pm GMT/UTC).
Be sure to follow the action and let us know your thoughts using #livingproof on twitter! ONE needs you this year to help secure EU development aid until 2020!
21st Century Development: Innovation with Impact
While leaders meet at the G20 summit in Cannes, Bill Gates was invited to speak about financing for development.
In his report, he makes the case for why we must continue investing in the livelihoods of poor people—and he suggests some innovative ways to do it.
In the report, Bill Gates says:
“Leadership from the G20 is critically important right now. The global economic situation is as fragile as it has been at any time in the past 50 years. As leaders of the G20, you face a difficult challenge: How do you resolve the immediate crisis while continuing to make smart investments in long-term growth and improved living conditions?
In the past 50 years, a billion people were saved from starvation by advances in agriculture. Health has improved in stunning ways, thanks to innovations like vaccines. In 1960, 20 million children under the age of 5 died. In 2010, fewer than 8 million children under 5 died. The world population more than doubled during this time, which means the rate of death has been cut by over 80 percent. Aid generosity has played an important role in these successes
Despite the current economic crisis, I am optimistic that we can build on the generosity and innovations that worked in the past. The group of countries able to contribute resources to development is larger than ever before. The number of people who can spur innovations is much greater than in the past. For these reasons, I am convinced we can create a new era in development.”
Budge up Bono and Bob – Bill’s the Big New Activist for This G20
This blog originally appeared on the Huffington Post.
While Bono and Bob Geldof have long been banging away, pressing world leaders for progress to help the poorest with debt cancellation, more money and better policies to fight hunger and disease, there is a tough new activist in town: Seattle’s finest, Bill Gates Jnr.
In a remarkable twist of political theatre, the billionaire philanthropist – who’s foundation gives away $2.5bn a year – has been asked by President Sarkozy to present his vision on how to finance the fight against poverty to the mixed bag of G20 leaders when they meet next week in Cannes.
To those who don’t know him, it will seem a surprisingly radical vision. Bill will call for a new partnership of revolutionary innovation between the developed world, the emerging powerhouses of the BRICS, the developing world and the private sector. Mr Gates has a devastating deadpan data-delivery style.
Bono calls it the “Kill Bill” manoeuvre. We trust it will go down well with world leaders.
It is essential we all pay serious attention to his proposals because they may shape the fight against extreme poverty for a generation to come. So if you don’t like his proposals, you should feel free to shout out. If you do like them – well, let’s shout even louder.
Even before the report has been published, much attention has been given to Gates’ support for a financial transaction tax. There are clearly huge opportunities here and those countries that are willing to do so should adopt such a levy, but with one key proviso: a significant portion of the proceeds must go towards fighting global inequalities and helping those in extreme poverty.
But this step alone is not enough. Not even its biggest supporters will argue that an FTT can singlehandedly finance the fight against extreme poverty. Fortunately there are many other big and wide-reaching proposals in his paper which also deserve urgent attention and action.
First up is Mr Gates’ push for legally binding measures to enforce transparency in the oil, gas and mining sector. Africa’s natural resources were worth $246 billion in exports in 2009. The proportion of this wealth that was spent on public services and helping people to pull themselves out of poverty should have been much larger than it was.
But without the transparency that shines a light on the contracts that governments sign with big business, money goes astray. He may not know it but in recommending this he has thrown his weight behind the “Publish What You Pay” coalition that ONE is part of, which has been campaigning on this issue for years.
The campaign helped push the USA to lead on this issue, and indeed just today the European Commission is presenting its proposals for legally binding rules to force companies extracting natural resources to make public their payments to governments. So just as Bill’s proposals on a financial transaction tax takes on the Big Banks, so his proposal on transparency takes on Big Oil.
This is why Bill is shaping up to be such a fascinating evidence-based activist. By just following the hard data his empirical process is leading to some very big ideas.
Gates’ proposals will get to the heart of the issue around the future financing of the fight against poverty. Ultimately the largest source of money for fighting poverty comes from within developing countries. The more our aid – resources given by European and American taxpayers – is used to leverage their aid – resources raised by African and other developing country taxpayers for their priorities – the smarter our aid will be and the sooner we can get out of the aid business altogether.
This is similar to the point Tony Blair made in his speech to the Overseas Development Institute last week. It’s not an argument for ending aid prematurely, rather it’s a case for scaling aid up smartly as promised until it is dwarfed entirely by the resources African citizens raise for themselves to fight poverty and promote growth. Then the aid industry exits stage left, job done.
And the job is already half done. Africa has come a long way in the last decade or so since debts were dropped and aid became bigger and smarter. Here are just some of the numbers.
46.5 million more kids started going to school in Africa between 1999 and 2008. In 2009, nearly 4 million Africans were receiving antiretroviral treatment for HIV/AIDS, up from only 50,000 in 2002. Measles deaths in Africa declined by 92% between 2000 and 2008. Remarkable stuff, but more to do.
That is why Bill is also eyeing the huge sums sitting in the coffers of the emerging powers. 1% of sovereign wealth funds may not seem like a lot, but when you realise they currently are currently worth just under $5 trillion, that’s a decent sum.
Applying that kind of money to investments in agriculture and infrastructure can quickly reduce the marginalisation that blights vast regions and put them in a position where they can function fully in the global economy. That is in the interests of all. Current global growth is just about creeping along only because of the arrival of the Chinas and Indias. Africa will be next and the sooner African growth surges even more to help prop up the global economy, the better for us all.
So the future of development finance is about unlocking the capital of emerging economies – but Bill argues it’s also about unlocking their creativity. Their recent experience with rapid development gives them a wealth not just of cash but of knowledge which, if used wisely and mixed with the dynamism of entrepreneurs in developing countries, will unleash job-generating growth not just for their economies but for the global economy.
There remains a real risk that the Cannes G20 summit will go down as the moment where we failed to not just get the Eurozone sorted, but also failed to spot the surging opportunities in this changing world. To world leaders I would say only this: pay heed to Bill Gates’ modest proposals – they could well be the best way to figure out the future not just of financing the fight against poverty, but also the fight for global growth.
Conference to save 4 million lives in 4 years #4mlives
This morning a historic conference is taking place in London, with the aim of pledging support for vaccines which could help save 4 million lives.
On Friday we handed in a petition signed by 300,000 ONE members calling on world leaders to support vaccines, and ONE members were at the conference greeting delegates as they arrived, reminding them that they have 4 hours to save 4 million more lives.
You can follow updates on our blog here, or by searching for the #4mlives hashtag on twitter.
Updates
DFID have put together some information for bloggers covering the event
9.50 David Cameron gives a speech defending the UK’s commitment to aid – UK aid will ensure that a child is vaccinated every 2 seconds for the next 5 years. “I believe when you make a promise to the poorest people in the world, you should keep it”
You can read his speech in full on the Downing Street website.
10.15 Bill Gates speaks to the conference ‘not everyday we give away a billion dollars but for a cause like this it is exciting to be doing it’
The Guardian are covering the event in their live blog here
View from the Social Media room: ONE supporter @SnailWhaleTail tweets: Pres of Liberia Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf being interviewed at @GAVIAlliance http://yfrog.com/h0gqoidqj
13.30 Watch the live webcast from the press conference.
13.43 Andrew Mitchell: announces 4.3billion US dollars for vaccines at the pledging conference today – 230 million additional doses of vaccine
13.46 Bill Gates: the momentum we’ve developed here means that future vaccines will be purchasable for those who need it the most
“If you can save 4 million lives in 4 hours it’s worth every minute.”
Sharing the Proof in Germany
Last week, Living Proof was finally launched in Germany. Living Proof focuses on the success stories and the amazing progress we can see thanks to smart aid – because despite all the bad news we hear from Africa and other developing countries, there is real progress in the fight against extreme poverty! We have strong evidence and proof for that – and we want to share this “Living Proof” throughout Germany. To this end, we have selected 20 amazing Youth Messengers, who will help us do just that over the next few months. The messengers are from all over Germany, extremely committed and many of them have even been to Africa and seen the challenges and successes for themselves.
We are very proud that Federal President Christian Wulff agreed to serve as patron of this program. On the occasion of the German Living Proof launch, President Wulff invited the Youth Messengers to “Bellevue Castle”, where they had the chance to meet the President, his wife, and – last but not least – Bill Gates. The President praised the commitment of the Youth Messengers and the positive outlook of Living Proof. Bill Gates asked the Youth Messengers to share the proof with as many people as possible, and to find creative ways of doing this.
Right after this exciting meeting the Youth Messengers joined Bill Gates for a photo session at the famous Brandenburg Gate. Here, our Youth Messengers were in great demand of the media. Many of them were interviewed and seized the opportunity to share the proof with the readers out there.
After this photo stunt, the Youth Messengers attended the Transatlantic Partnership Award Ceremony in honor of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation at the Ritz-Carlton. Bill Gates accepted the award on behalf of the foundation and gave a fascinating speech filled with facts, facts, facts – and featuring a very moving story of an African mother who lost her baby to a pneumonia, an easily preventable disease. Since then, she works with her community to ensure that mothers have their babies vaccinated on time. Indeed, between 2000 and 2009 the death of 5.4 million children was prevented thanks to the effective vaccination programs of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI). Really impressive!
In the afternoon, our Youth Messengers participated in a workshop in which we trained them for their upcoming tasks. Renate Bähr, director of our partner-NGO German Foundation for World Population, spoke about challenges and progress regarding the Millennium Development Goals. MP Thilo Hoppe talked about the role of the German parliament in shaping Germany’s development policies and financial contributions. The Youth Messengers were also invited to visit the Development Ministry and meet with Deputy Development Minister Hans-Jürgen Beerfeltz. He was very proud to report that earlier that day the Development Ministry and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation had signed a cooperation agreement to ensure that the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization gets more resources to continue and further amplify their successful work. Last but not least, our Youth Messengers were trained by Julius van de Laar, a leading campaigning expert, on how to combine online and offline tools to share the proof!
As you can imagine, at the end of this long and exciting day the Youth Messengers (and the ONE team) were quite exhausted, but also highly motivated – because this was just the beginning! The actual work starts now, and our Youth Messengers are already organizing Living Proof events and activities to reach as many people as possible. We will keep you posted on Living Proof in Germany.
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About the Blog
The International ONE Blog is a daily log of the anti-poverty movement. The site is operated by ONE staff, with guest contributions from ONE volunteers, members and allies.
The content of each post and each comment represents the views of that author and does not necessarily reflect the views of ONE. ONE does not support or oppose any candidate for elected office, and any post expressing support or opposition for a candidate is not endorsed by ONE.
TAGS: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Neglected Tropical Diseases, World Health Organization