Gates urges donors to invest in health for global security and growth

From Kate Killand

LONDON (Reuters) – One of the best investments governments can make to boost global economic security and growth, Bill and Melinda Gates said on Thursday, donate billions of dollars to global anti-corruption funds. poverty and disease.

The elimination of infectious epidemic diseases such as malaria, poliomyelitis and HIV / AIDS is difficult, but the significant progress made by global aid mechanisms in recent decades is making the world's population now healthier and more productive, they said.

"The data was really incredible," Melinda Gates told reporters during a conference call.

She cited figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) and other organizations that showed that since 1990, under-five mortality rates have decreased by more than 50% and that deaths from infectious diseases such as HIV, malaria and measles were also halved.

Melinda said: "The baby today has the opportunity to die before the age of five less than half as compared to if he were born in 2000 … The human and economic benefits of this huge. "

The Gates Foundation, a multi-billion dollar charitable organization, including partners Bill and Melinda, is one of the world's largest providers of health programs designed to help the poor get rid of the disease. poverty and premature death.

The Foundation seeks to encourage donor governments such as the United States, Japan, Australia, Germany, Britain and many other countries to fill the gap in four major global funds during next 18 months so that they can continue their work.

These funds include the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, and the Global Fund for Maternal and Child Health. .

Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, said he is optimistic that rich donor governments are still committed to funding international aid to poor countries, but added: "We never want to take it for granted, because if only one country was recovering, Thousands of lives. "

Gates also said he feared "distracting attention from domestic issues" would lead to not paying the necessary attention to the urgent need to fund global aid.

"People should not be satisfied … we still have just under six million children who die before the age of five."

(Reuters)