Bill Gates Donates $258 Million to Fight Malaria 694
klubar writes to tell us that Bill Gates has donated approximately $258 million to fight malaria. From the article: "Malaria research accounts for about one-third of 1 percent of the total amount of money spent on medical research and development, even though it accounts for 3 percent of all the productive years of life lost to diseases, according to a report released Sunday." Gates was quoted saying "The report confirms what has been clear, and that is that the world isn't investing nearly enough in malaria R&D."
Let's give a hand to Bill (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Let's give a hand to Bill (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Let's give a hand to Bill (Score:5, Insightful)
That's because malaria, unlike those in your list, typically occurs Somewhere Far Away.
Re:Let's give a hand to Bill (Score:2)
Re:Let's give a hand to Bill (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Let's give a hand to Bill (Score:2, Interesting)
That's ridiculous (Score:5, Insightful)
"Mother Teresa liked feeling important and only helped people because it made herself feel good and needed"
Most of the time when people believe such things, it is because they themselves are unable to feel charitable to anyone or anything. So they cannot understand when others do something charitable. All they do is throw stones rather than replicate or surpass the charity they criticize.
After all, who wants someone they hate to be better than themselves?
Bill Gates believes in helping people, and he has given a large portion of his wealth to helping these countries get out of poverty and disease. This is fact. The "Return On Investment" on helping Africa is multiple decades, long after he's dead. And even believing that Africans can be productive enough to provide a ROI to Microsoft is itself above and beyond everyone else's "Africa is a basket case" attitude on Africa.
What someone does in business, however shrewd, does not mean they don't genuinely feel for those who are suffering.
Re:That's ridiculous (Score:5, Interesting)
My girlfriend worked for the foundation for 4 years, and I got to see the passion that Bill and Melinda feel for these issues. They have held those AIDS babies in their arms in those clinics in Africa. They really do care.
I don't like how Bill got his money, but I have complete respect for what he is doing with it.
All said and done... (Score:3)
Re:That's ridiculous (Score:5, Insightful)
First off, there's a difference between starting a charity and donating to charity. I haven't seen the speech by his father, but just because he didn't want to start his own foundation doesn't necessarily mean he wasn't actively donating to charitable causes, or that he isn't/wasn't charitable. I would bet that close to 100% of the people out there donating thousands of dollars per year don't have their own charities. Are they not charitable?
As for his contributions to his foundation, according to Wikipedia [wikipedia.org], the estimated current endowment of his foundation is $28 billion. It looks like the initial endowment was $5 billion, so from that I'd say he's been contributing. They also claim that Gates has given one-third of his lifetime income to charity. Sure, given the billions he has, there's room for more giving. But I'm hardly ready to call him a scrooge.
The Gift Horse's Tonsils. (Score:5, Informative)
Second, Malaria is an "orphan" disease, ie: Drug companies do not see a future profit so they put little effort into research.
Third, "evil" people sometimes do great deeds. As for "pushing & conjoling" have you ever noticed that is how most "leaders" operate?
Fourth, this is exactly the kind of philanthropy that US capitialism has always touted but has rarely experienced.
Last, Bill & Co have an impressive record of helping people who are largely forgotten by the rest of the world. No he did not start MS in an attempt to wipe out Malaria, but because of MS success as a publicly traded company, Bill now has the oportunity to do so.
Projection: The fact that you can only see a self serving conspiracy on the part of MS says alot more about you than it does about Bill.
Re:The Gift Horse's Tonsils. (Score:3, Funny)
Yes, you can also cure a headache with cranial amputation, try it next time you feel one coming on.
Re:The Gift Horse's Tonsils. (Score:3, Informative)
Resistance. The mosquitos developed resistance. Oh, what a shame. Bad luck, eh? No, not bad luck, zoydoid. Murder, zoydoid. You see, DDT wasn't merely used to protect humans from malaria. It was also used as an agricultural pesticide. The amou
Re:That's ridiculous (Score:5, Insightful)
The kind that's intended to last forever, so that it can continue giving out 5% of its net worth in perpetuity.
Re:That's ridiculous (Score:5, Insightful)
The whole idea is that a principal is invested so that the recurring interest can be put to good use. It's a way of ensuring stable, sustainable giving. The fact the net worth of the Foundation is growing every year means they have more to give. In that light, 5% sounds about right (or even high) for current interest rates, don't you think?
Re:Microsoft != Gates (Score:5, Interesting)
At this point, he is very involved in all the major decisions and directs them on a daily basis. Melinda is there much of thetime, as is Bill Sr.
Melinda goes on several trips a year to find out about the work that the foundation is doing, and the whole family has spent time in clinics in Africa.
As for the funding, it is a foundation, not a regular charity. All the money in the foundation comes from Bill and Melinda, and they are still giving. Do you remember that one time microsoft dividend at the beginning of the year? They gave the entire dividend to the foundation.
They really aren't in it to look good. The only tend to go public on their gifts when they want to bring attention to an issue.
Re:Let's give a hand to Bill (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Let's give a hand to Bill (Score:2)
Re:Let's give a hand to Bill (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Let's give a hand to Bill (Score:3, Insightful)
Obviously, Bill Gates is identified with Microsoft, and is its largest shareholder, but the two are different entities. Microsoft is a public corporation, run in the interests of its shareholders, and may well make donations as part of its PR. Its shareholders, who may well include the people who will pay your pension (or maybe not, depends on your situation), expect and encourage them to do th
say what you want about his business (Score:4, Insightful)
Millions from a billionaire... (Score:3, Interesting)
But keep in mind that Gates is the wealthiest man on the face of the planet, worth tens of billions of dollars. There's only so many mansions, exotic cars, yachts, priceless works of art, private jets, islands, and so forth he could purchase before they become ridiculou
Re:say what you want about his business (Score:2, Interesting)
Why are people so quick to speak without researching the situation first?
I'm glad he's making the gift, but don't make a judgement until you know all the facts.
Re:say what you want about his business (Score:5, Insightful)
He's pumping money into fighting a disease that is known as a killer of the poor. It's mostly children and mostly in small, poor, non-computer-using communities where malaria is a killer. Piracy is rampant in Africa (a large center for malaria victims) and there's no real hope of getting them to fork out money to MS anytime soon.
I would agree that he may be looking at the larger picture. But he's still being generous - you can't fault him for that. Paul Allen spent $200 million on a yacht that has two helicopters. It costs him $20 million a year to keep the thing and he's never on it. Gates has given $20 billion to fight aids and now this to malaria. Of the two, who would you fault as the selfish bastard?
Re:say what you want about his business (Score:3, Interesting)
Bill Gates. This is Slashdot, Brother.
It's literally impossible for Bill to do something constructive without
Bless The Man (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Bless The Man (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Bless The Man (Score:2)
Borg icon appropriate? (Score:5, Insightful)
Im glad that bill is using some of his fortume to help fight this disease. Africa thanks you.
epic
Re:Borg icon appropriate? (Score:2)
he's an awesome philanthropist. This is one of the reasons why I've never had an issue using Microsoft products.
Bill never was Mr Popular.... (Score:5, Insightful)
At Least Bill Sees the Seriousness of Malaria (Score:5, Funny)
I'm glad to see... (Score:2, Insightful)
Anti trust (Score:5, Funny)
Hundreds of Millions of dollars to fight Malaria? (Score:3, Interesting)
Unfortunately, a bunch of overwrought environmentalists managed to get the use and manufacture of DDT severely restricted on the basis of some very bad science.
The malaria problem has already been solved. We just need to allow third world countries to use the same solution we used before some trashy 60's book that cried about DDT softening eggshells.
Re:Hundreds of Millions of dollars to fight Malari (Score:5, Informative)
See: http://kenethmiles.blogspot.com/2004_02_01_keneth
Re:Hundreds of Millions of dollars to fight Malari (Score:5, Informative)
Based on the available information, I'm going to have to assume that Rachel Carson's critics are closer to the truth.
Of course, nowadays, no responsible corporation would think of advocating the use of DDT... because the patents on it have expired.
Re:Hundreds of Millions of dollars to fight Malari (Score:2)
massive DDT spraying is the solution to Malaria? (Score:5, Informative)
DDT isnt even close to enough (Score:2)
So now were going to need a good mix of pesticides, and the ability to spray the areas where we have these mosquitos, with
Re:Hundreds of Millions of dollars to fight Malari (Score:2)
Malaria deaths (Score:5, Insightful)
An estimated 350-500 million clinical malaria episodes occur annually. At least 2.7 million die per year from Malaria.
Malaria is responsible for one in four global child deaths. These deaths could be prevented by means which are simple, effective and available.
So lets all give a hand to Bill Gates for helping prevent at least some of these deaths.
vaccine in six years? (Score:5, Informative)
Malaria vaccine possible within six years
11:18 31 October 2005
NewScientist.com news service
Shaoni Bhattacharya
A malaria vaccine could be available within 6 years if new trials of the most promising candidate prove successful, say experts.
Malaria vaccine research received a $107.6 million injection of funds on Monday, part of a $258.3 million donation from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for the study of malaria and its treatment.
The cash boost will accelerate the development of an effective vaccine, says Melinda Moree, director of the Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI). The anticipated date for a vaccine could be as early as 2011. At one point what the world considered to be fairly unattainable is actually coming along quite rapidly, she told reporters. It is absolutely possible to make a vaccine against malaria."
MVI will work with GlaxoSmithKline on the most promising vaccine candidate yet, called RTS,S, which, in trial in Mozambique, cut the rate of severe malaria in children aged 1 to 4 by 58%. This was the first time that a malaria vaccine candidate had shown protection against severe disease in children.
The new series of planned trials will examine whether the vaccine is safe and effective when given to infants alongside other childhood vaccines. Research will then proceed to a phase III trial to permit licensing. The trials, to be conducted in locations across Africa, will have about 17,000 subjects.
more at the url above.
Re:Malaria deaths (Score:5, Insightful)
It's been consistently demonstrated that reducing infant mortality is the first step to reducing fertility rates and thus stabilizing population. It's no coincidence that population grows the slowest in nations that have low infant mortality. Check Joel Cohen's How Many People Can The Earth Support? for details.
Bill screwed up with the wife again (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Bill screwed up with the wife again (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Bill screwed up with the wife again (Score:2)
Re:Bill screwed up with the wife again (Score:5, Interesting)
the preceding is a quote from philanthropy.com [philanthropynow.com]. The site also explains Bill planned on giving, just later in life.
Re:Bill screwed up with the wife again (Score:2)
Re:Bill screwed up with the wife again (Score:3, Insightful)
Until he got married, his charitable contributions were non-existent.
Probably has something to do with having kids and suddenly wondering what the future for your descendants will be like.
Reminds me of John D. Rockefeller (Score:5, Insightful)
I think Gates will be remembered likewise for his good works in reducing the worst misery in poor countries. I think we owe a lot to Gate's wife, Melinda. He didn't do this stuff before he was married. OTOH, we wouldn't do it if he felt strongly for this also.
I still don't like the Microsoft monopoly, but not all Computer billionaires are so generous and he doesn't have to do this. Thanks Bill!
Re:Reminds me of John D. Rockefeller (Score:5, Funny)
Moral Corporations (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Moral Corporations (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Moral Corporations (Score:4, Insightful)
And who does that? People that dislike most large corporations do so because most large coporations, in my opinion and theirs, do bad things. People that disagree with this view put forward the notion that we just hate the corporations for being large, because it's much easier to demonstrate a fault in that position.
To debate ethically, they should actually address the criticism made of large corporations.
Possible cure within six years (Score:3, Informative)
Cynics (Score:2, Insightful)
DDT Limerick (Score:5, Funny)
That a chemist had poisoned his brain
The cause of his sorrow
Was paradichloro
Diphenyltrichloroethane
Heh heh... from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDT [wikipedia.org]
Good and Bad Steve and Bill (Score:5, Interesting)
I like to read Bill Gates donation stories... (Score:2)
won't you please think about the children? (Score:5, Funny)
"When you support Free software, you support malaria!"
-me
What the hell's your problem? Do you like dead babies? Do you???
No, save the precious infants! [amazon.com]
or
Yes, let's kill some babies! [kernel.org]
He also donated... (Score:5, Informative)
Bill Gates--Philanthropist (Score:5, Informative)
I have never been a fan of Bill Gates, the technologist. I don't harbor the opinion that Bill has made a great contribution to technology. Indeed, I blame Mr Gates for the absurdly bad PC user interface that we all have to put up with--and I don't just mean the Windows interface--I also mean the Apple interface and the two (for-chrissake-make-up-your-mind) Linux interfaces.
By doing little more than slavishly follow innovations introduced by Apple and occasionally coming up with original bad ideas, Microsoft has put no competitive pressure on Apple at all to provide a truly usable PC interface. (When it needed to produce a brilliant interface, as per the iPod, Apple was up to the task). With Linux, it's worse. GUI innovation amongst the Linux desktop crowd has been so invisible that one wonders whether Open Source naturally evolves according to the principles of unintelligent design. It's all a mess.
I have more respect for Bill Gates as a businessman. Admittedly Microsoft's power grew out of a monopoly situation, but Bill Gates was intelligent and focused in establishing that monopoly and outmaneuvered a swathe of competitors. It's difficult to fault it, although it's also easy to conclude that it has not been good for the IT industry.
But never mind, there is an area of activity where, in my view, Bill Gates deserves genuine respect. A current article in the New Yorker provides a detailed account of Bill (and Malinda) Gates' philanthropic activities. Most impressively, Bill Gates is (unarguably) doing more for world health than the WHO itself. The simple fact is that the Bill and Malinda charity provides much more finance to specific world health initiatives than the WHO does--and it is managed (by Bill himself) as if it were a competitive business. It sets targets, invests and reviews progress. According to the New Yorker, at the moment Bill is doing what he can to combat Malaria--which is more deadly to world health than AIDS. The article is worth reading. Not just for what it reveals about Bill Gates but also what it reveals about the health problems the world faces.
Detractors of Bill Gates may well maintain that with his particular pile of dollars it is easy to be philanthropic. Indeed with one tenth of his dollar pile it would also be easy. And indeed there are a few individuals that have such piles, but I don't know of any (with the possible exception of George Soros) that actively engages in the kind of activity that Bill Gates does. Hats off, I think.
Anything but more Mefloquine HCL! (Score:5, Funny)
One of my co-workers woke up in the middle of the night, standing in the middle of his B-Hut (basically a wooden tent, sleeps 8-10 with about 9'x7x per man), screaming his head off at nothing.
Last night, I dreamed I was accosted by a giant rooster wearing a shaggy fur coat, a wide brimmed velvet hat, gold chains, and big gold rings. He was giving me shit for eating eggs, and was really pissed off at me. He forced me to sit on this egg until it hatched. When the egg hatched, it was a miniature version of myself, dressed like the rooster, and carrying a pizza!
The World mentioned this last week. (Score:5, Informative)
It's a good listen overall, though.
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation does good (Score:5, Insightful)
In particular, Gates has backed research into treating the maladies that vex the third world. These are diseases that do incredible harm, but frankly aren't commercially worth the spending medical research dollars on because the people they afflict are so poor. This is why a few hundred million here and there from Gates is such a huge thing. He spends the money that no commercial interest could ever justify spending to try to alleviate the suffering of the worlds poorest residents.
Don't get me wrong here, I have nothing positive to say about how Bill made his money, but he does deserver credit for how he disposes of it through his charity.
Well... (Score:3, Insightful)
OK, now that the obvious joke is out of the way, you do have to hand it to the guy for doing this. As an orphan disease, malaria research doesn't get nearly enough funding. Doing something like this puts him on the side of the angels (for this particular skirmish).
Re:just like all the other robber barons (Score:5, Informative)
Re:just like all the other robber barons (Score:2, Informative)
Re:just like all the other robber barons (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:just like all the other robber barons (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:just like all the other robber barons (Score:2)
The monetary value of this contribution is diffcult to determine, but it is indeed a gift that helps all of humanity.
Re:We're so lame (Score:2)
Re:We're so lame (Score:2)
Vaccines are not "unscientific quackery" just because we don't build antibodies from scratch. There are many instances in science where we let nature/statistics and build a result from the ground up. For instance, genetic algorithms, universally regarded as sound science, work in a similar way. We simply cast a problem as an optimization of a sequence of chromosomes and let statistics organize a solution. We could build these solutions from the bottom up, but it would require much
Re:We're so lame (Score:2)
Re:We're so lame (Score:2)
Sorry I don't have a subscription to give out. Anyone?
Re:We're so lame (Score:2)
As an example, once a hit is registered for a small molecule (potential drug) in a pathogen-related screen, a set of chemists go about producing analogs of the drug. While this is going
Re:We're so lame (Score:2)
Re:We're so lame (Score:2)
Re:Bill still selling the shareholders money (Score:3)
Of course using this logic, no one should ever sell anything, because it depresses the price for the folks wh
Re:let's get real... (Score:2)
Essentially, he is taking his voting shares, converting them into money at the expense of the shareholders and then giving the money away.
If Microsoft PAID him billion
Re:Oh yeah baby... (Score:3, Funny)
This just in, Gates dropped some spare change and couldn't be bothered to pick it up, so he donated it to a charity in a desperate attempt to get some good publicity. When it failed, Balmer threw a chair through a window.
Re:Indulgence (Score:2, Insightful)
opportunity cost (Score:5, Insightful)
One possibility, of course, is that they would have frittered it away on DVDs and beer. But it's also possible they would have done a million individual worthy deeds of charity, such as buying some shoes to send a soldier on tsunami relief, who knows a little girl who needs them, or cooking a hot meal for a neighbor with cancer, or buying a textbook for an inner-city school that's short. Or maybe some extra money would've let a brilliant but poor student not drop out of medical school, so he would get the education he needs to invent the malaria vaccine that works for 20 years. You never know, actually.
And that's the rub. Is the good that Bill does with that money necessarily greater than the distributed good that would have been done by the millions of original possessors if they'd kept their money because he sold his products more cheaply? I don't know, of course. You can argue it both ways: (1) Bill has time to study the issues very carefully before investing, make a single "strategic vision" and implement a cohesive overall plan, so maybe "centralizing" the charity decisions makes them better. Or, (2) Bill's only one man, he can't possibly have access to all the information all those millions of people at the "grass roots" level have, so their distributed "Open Source Charity" movement would make better, more flexible and effective decisions.
Re:opportunity cost (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:whats the big deal? (Score:3, Insightful)
Anyway eventually a photo of the plant leaked out, and Western scientists identified the plant as an Artemisia (Wormwood) species
Re:W32.Malaria.A (Score:2)
k.
Re:Buying minds (Score:3, Funny)
only in your fantasy world would $258,000,000 US be considered chump change.
Re:It's a lie. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:There was one condition (Score:3, Informative)
Re:There was one condition (Score:3, Interesting)
If it was, then Gates would have donated the money anonymously, and he wouldn't be going out of his way to publicize it. I'm not saying that this is only about publicity, but you can't deny that it's an important consideration.
Re:There was one condition (Score:5, Informative)
Re:There was one condition (Score:3, Informative)
Re:There was one condition (Score:4, Insightful)
Why? Is there any disadvantage to doing it openly? Assuming it was pure philanthropy, what would possibly be his motivation to make it anonymous? It just doesn't matter. So there's no way to know if that was a consideration.
Now, I'll go on to assume publicity was a consideration because in general people like to be recognized for their good deeds. And this is a good deed. And what is wrong with being recognized for that? If people can be recognized for their bad deeds (who wants those to be anonymous) then it should be the same with good deeds. It's only fair.
Why are we so cynical now that even a good act is labeled self-serving if the person could get even a pat on the back for it? Oh Bill! You selfish bastard! You did something nice publicly! People might actually talk well of you!
It's weird how bitter we all seem. People just love to hate.
Cheers.
PS - I'm a Linux and Mac user, so no motive here other than to give credit where credit is due. Oh wait! I'm trying to look generous and forgiving! That must be my ulterior motive! I'm such a self-serving bastard!
Re:There was one condition (Score:5, Insightful)
Anyway - most knighthoods are for services rendered to the governmant of the time...
Actually, he isn't BRITISH either, so he can't be a REAL Knight if you want to get specific about it.
But for some silly reason, England and the Queen thought his efforts were worth the title, even if it honorary and he doesn't get to be called Sir Bill G.
Stick to what the guy is doing to help the world, for once get off his back, geesh...
He donates more money than rich countries like the US for this type of research and care to the world.
I don't care what you think of MS or Windows, this is about someone with money actually doing good with it, I wish I could say the same for other people in our industry with a large amount of company made wealth. So even if you hate Windows and Dell forced you to buy it at some point, it should make you feel better than it may have been your $80 bucks that went to help people in the world and not just buy another CEO(CSA) a new car.
Re:The history of DDT (Score:3, Informative)
The widespread use of DDT had all but wiped out malaria some three decades ago. Then someone named Rachel Carson wrote a fictional book called "Silent Spring" about how DDT was harming birds. The book was fictional, literally. But the irrational so-called "envoronmentalists" of the world took it as a call to action and successfully pressured the government to ban DDT. Now millions die needlessly in Africa as a result of their irrationality.
Wow.
Just, wow man. This is the most ignorant, uninformed post
Re:Best way to help the world: Fix Windows XP (Score:3, Insightful)
Occasionally when I come here, I get the impression that some people feel that societies would magically get better if everyone just used Open Office and submitted kernel patches.
Technology is great and all, but it's a bit lower in priority compared to food, shelter, and medicine. The basics count, and if Bill Gates wants to donate a quarter of a billion dollars to help cut down on the millions of annual deaths from malaria, there really isn't any good reason to criticize him. Malaria certain
Re:Before we canonize Saint Bill: (Score:5, Insightful)
Last time I checked Bill had not deprived me or anyone else of anything, either physically or financially. Whenever I have bought something from Microsoft, I have handed over my money of my own free will and received something back.
The reason people are fawning over his gesture is that he could have quite easily spent all that money on frivillious crap for himself. There are plenty of other multi-millionares who do.
Irrespective of the tax perks that he gets, I (and plenty of others) would prefer that he spent his money in this way rather than on a space trip, a number of islands and a couple of yachts.
Re:We already know how to stop Malaria!!! (Score:3, Informative)
DDT is widely regarded as a threat to human health - a potent poison and a carcinogen. But the scientific evidence presents a rather different picture.
Professor Len Ritter, from Guelph University, is executive director of the Canadian Network of Toxicology Centres, which compiled a major report on DDT and related substances for the United Nations.
"I hate to say concl
Re:We already know how to stop Malaria!!! (Score:3, Insightful)
Cancer is a disease that wealthy people in the first world worry about, because just about every