Bill and Melinda Gates’ R479bn bet
The lives of poor people around the world will improve more over the next 15 years than during any other time in history. It’s a big bet backed up by an even bigger $42 billion (R479bn) foundation.
“I don’t think it’s utopian. Optimistic, certainly, yes, but we really do believe it’s attainable,” said David Allen, the country representative for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in South Africa.
The Microsoft co-founder and his wife wrote in their annual letter for the charity that the progress they had made so far was “very exciting, so exciting that we are doubling down on the bet we made 15 years ago, and picking ambitious goals for what’s possible 15 years from now”.
So where does South Africa stand? Allen said the country had an important role to play and was one of many that had the potential to meet the “ambitious goals” set by his foundation’s founders.
He said the organisation’s focus was on four main areas, which included health, agriculture, financial services and education.
Allen said South Africa was particularly on track in the health sector to see the improvements that his organisation wanted to see. “The current government in the last five years has made some important improvements, especially in Aids and TB.”
Fighting the diseases is a focal point for the foundation. The organisation has around 150 active foundation grants in South Africa alone totalling up to $250 million in funding for research and projects. Most of this money is being funnelled into the health sector.
In Bill and Melinda Gates’s letter, the pair looked ahead to a world where polio and Guinea worm, along with two other diseases, will be eliminated.
Source: IOL News