government spends less than 1% of its budget on foreign aid. People often think it’s 5% or 10%, but it’s under 1%, and that’s $30 billion. On the myth of foreign aid size and purpose: Those message get around through those self help groups." They have amazing impact, from learning about micro-finance (loans) to messages like don't have your daughter marry too young, space your children out, take vaccines, keep your baby warm. These women’s groups are in villages where women don’t have a voice. Rather than outsiders telling the sex workers what to do, they decided for themselves what approaches would work better. "The human benefit of those communities (of women helping women) was immense. And that was women working together, whether it was that or finding solutions to other problems, like when the police would attack them, they found ways to call others for help. So we built these communities in big cities, and it went down to 8%. If you go in too late it doesn’t have the high impact. "When we came in there, there was about a 15% prevalence of HIV among sex workers. That was vital, because to avoid a general HIV epidemic in India, the key was to make sure the sex workers didn’t get a high prevalence. So that got us engaged in creating places where these women could go talk with their peers about things like saving money and practicing safe sex. How they got into their situation and what it was like for their kids, the stigma they faced. "We sat around and they would tell their life stories, and it’s some of the toughest stuff I’ve ever heard. On the moving experience of meeting with sex workers in Asia: So it would take some pretty extreme things in the political realm, like lots of wars, before you even temporarily set back this global progress."
People are more literate around the world. "Doing this work makes you see that the general trend line is good. We hope to get to zero in 2018, and that starts a 3 year clock to make sure they’re certain it’s gone. Polio is what we’ll try and drive to zero, from less than 50 cases last year. "I’m intent that these infectious diseases, which account for why most of these children die in poor countries, I think in the next 20 or 30 years we can get rid of that. Sure, it can be tricky, but on balance things are tending to improve. "I certainly see continuing this work for the next several decades. I love doing the work. I learn new things, I deal with the challenges, including on the political front.
Our 2020 target of making sure 120 million more women have access to contraceptives (the number current stands at plus-30 million since 2012) is very aggressive and we’re a bit behind, but we’re looking at the public and private channel and figuring out how do we get this all out there." "Melinda and our partners, including (the) UK (United Kingdom government), had an event where we stated a goal for getting the new contraceptives out. So there’s always been a movement saying women deserve to have access to that, but getting the cost down and making sure it’s there for them has been the challenge. We have an injection that allows you to stop being fertile for three months, and then you can decide if you want another one, and eventually you can get a few of these and do it yourself, as opposed to going to a doctor. "So giving people the tools that can help them space their kids out more is important. But as the world goes from 7 billion to 9 billion people by 2050, that’s going to be adding a billion in Asia, from 4 to 5 billion, and Africa will grow to around 2 billion (from 1.2 billion now). But in the poor ones, it’s about 3% of population growth per year, and mainly that’s in Africa with a few places in Asia. being an exception, you’re largely shrinking. "So the irony is, in the rich countries, the U.S. As Yemen and Democratic Republic of Congo doubles its population, the ability to provide (health) activities for those hugely growing populations just won’t be possible.
But the high population growth rates are in the poorest parts of the world where you have terrible health conditions. "The number of babies born in the world reached its peak 10 years ago and it's going down. On contraceptives and their role in global stability: To get a sense of that level of discourse, here are some excerpts from USA TODAY's recent meeting with Gates, co-founder of the philanthropic Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, as he addressed a few topics that are close to his heart. Speaking with Bill Gates is like reading multiple Wikipedia entries.Īsk a question, and you typically get a slight pause before he delivers a thoughtful paragraph or three of an answer that, in the age of Twitter haikus, is refreshingly comprehensive. Watch Video: Bill Gates' foundation invests in the future of HIV prevention
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