Bill Gates: "Saving the World is Within Our Grasp"

Tuesday, November 6. 2007

Bill Gates presented an inspirational article in the October 1 issue of Newsweek dedicated entirely to Global Health, called "Saving the World is Within Our Grasp." In just a few paragraphs he cites some of the major -- and impressive -- leaps forward that have been made in recent years toward conquering the diseases plaguing millions of people today. At a time when we're inundated with statistics on a daily basis that dampen the spirit, he cites numbers showing some real progress. Fortunately for him, he's able to witness a lot of this first-hand, and notes:

Millions of lives have been saved through better financing and delivery of the medical advances available today.

The GAVI Alliance has immunized 100 million children, averting some 600,000 deaths last year alone, and a creative approach to the bond markets has raised $1 billion more to buy more vaccines. (He's referring to the innovative Advanced Market Commitments announced earlier this year. Read more on the Vaccine AMC web site which Forum One built for the GAVI Alliance.)
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is saving 3,000 lives a day.

Mr. Gates also states, "I'm amazed by the work of the Nothing But Nets campaign, which has managed through Web-based marketing to raise $13 million—mostly from young people—for insecticide-treated bed nets."

Quick Plug: We're fortunate to be hosting an energetic speaker (Shannon Raybold) from the UN Foundation's Nothing But Nets Campaign next week at our event entitled "Global Health and the Internet: How Can We Save More Lives?". Tickets are still available. Learn more & sign up to join us! (Nov. 13 8am-11am, National Press Club in Washington, DC): www.forumone.com/globalhealth

I applaud Mr. Gates for shedding such a positive light on all of the hard work being done around the world in global health--and for leading many of these efforts through his Foundation.

Posted by Suzanne Rainey in Global Health at 21:26 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

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Influence covers innovations in communication, Internet technology and strategy to generate influence on important public policy issues. Chris Wolz manages this blog with the help of his colleagues at Forum One Communications, a web strategy/technology firm in the Washington DC area.