This post was originally published on the Impatient Optimists Blog by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Read the original article here. What’s “crowd-sourcing”? Where did the term “shared value” come from? What on earth is an “Armchair Advocate”? It’s 2013 and now more than ever we have an excuse to revisit the basics in

Bill Gates was in Europe for stops in London and Paris. He’s traveling part of the time with Bono to meet with government leaders and policy makers of countries that are key contributors to global health and development work. This piece was originally published on the Gates Notes blog. I spent Wednesday in Paris, talking

By Rosalyn Rush, Research Analyst, Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Team, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation I haven’t participated in a science fair since grade school, where at least one kid in my class would vie for the bragging rights of creating the best volcano that would emit smoke and erupt with molten lava. Nevertheless, I

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

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

Friday the 13th is a day known for superstition, fear, and bad luck. But today, the global health community in India attained a milestone that will ensure that we remember this Friday the 13th as a day of progress and hope. As of today, India has gone an entire year without a case of polio.

World Polio Day is simultaneously a celebration and a call to action. It’s a celebration because in the past 20 years, polio cases are down 99 percent, thanks to one of the most ambitious global health campaigns in history. Through a vast partnership, we’ve delivered polio drops to children in impossible circumstances—in active war zones,

Erin Hohlfelder is out in Seattle, Wash., this week covering the Gates Foundation’s 2011 Malaria Forum. She’ll be sending out blogs posts and tweets throughout the week, so follow this space! Photo credit: Bill and Melinda Gates FoundationAfter spending the first day at the Gates Foundation’s Malaria Forum, I can report without question that Seattle

Bill and Melinda Gates have always approached the fight against hunger, poverty and disease a little differently — instead of focusing on the problem, they focus on the solution and narrow in on what’s working to get things done. This positive spirit is embodied in their foundation’s new and aptly named blog, Impatient Optimists. The

Poop. Yep, you read that right. Today’s blog post is about poop, a topic I’m pretty sure no one wants to discuss. But before I begin, take a look at this hilarious and informative video compiled by the Gates Foundation to get the conversation going about a not-so-appetizing, but very important issue. Despite the taboo

Malaria, a disease which causes death, severe anemia, miscarriages, low birth weights and increased risk for mother-to-child HIV transmission was eliminated from the United States and Europe in 1970. Today, the disease remains endemic in 106 nations, with 90 percent of malaria deaths occurring in Africa. Yeah, you read that right — a disease that

Mercy Ahun of the GAVI Alliance looks back on the horrible meningitis epidemics that hit her native country of Ghana. But thanks to a new vaccine, Ghana may be able to rid itself of the disease. Growing up in a Ghanaian coastal village, the dry and dusty trade winds that blew in from the Sahara