The Economist - January 29th, 2005

The Gates foundation
Missionary zeal
Jan 27th 2005
From The Economist print edition
Yes, Bill Gates really does think he can cure the world
AIDS. Malaria. Tuberculosis. Dengue. Sleeping sickness. Bilharzia. Filariasis. The list of infectious
diseases that afflict the poor world is long and depressing. The list of treatments is
correspondingly short and depressing, for the incentive of those who have the money to discover
and develop such treatments is slim. The end of colonialism eliminated most of the political will to
do so. The lack of a market enervated the financial will. AIDS aside (and that only because it
afflicts a few hundred thousand rich westerners as well as millions in poor countries), these are
Cinderella diseases.
That may be a cliché, but it is oddly pertinent. For Cinderella was rescued by a fairy godmother.
And although Bill Gates is more usually cast in the role of Demon King in the modern fairy tales
told by computer geeks, he may yet go down in history as a fairy godfather. That is because he
has given a substantial part of his fortune—some $28 billion so far—to a foundation that bears his
name and that of his wife Melinda. And that foundation, the world's largest charity, is dedicated
mainly to making the poor world healthier.
Fixing the wetware
Science Photo Library
The Gates foundation has been in the news this week because of a $750m grant it has made to
the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI—see article). That is big, but compared
with the sums sloshing around in national foreign-aid budgets, it is not humungous. What marks it
out is how well directed it is.