Gates, Buffett Seek India's Help On Polio Eradication

Over the next six months, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett will travel to to India to ask top business officials to ante up to end polio.

Gates highlighted in his annual letter the $720 million gap in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

The Gates Foundation will ask Indian billionaires to be part of the Giving Pledge and donate most of their fortunes to charity.

As one of the countries with the highest rate of polio transmission, India's government, alongside the Gates Foundation, is the biggest contributor to wiping out polio. In 2010, India cut cases by 95 percent, and the disease is close to being stamped out, which would make it the second disease in history to be wiped out, after small pox. Gates calls it "good progress" but says there's still more work to be done.

"If eradication fails because of a lack of generosity on the part of donor countries it would be tragic. We are so close, but we have to finish the last leg of the journey."

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Comments

[Bedazio]

06:54 AM on 02/02/2011

...after all, India's children are the future of Microsoft and other greedy corporations.

[Tindrums]

07:30 AM on 02/02/2011

Microsoft jobs are amongst the most sought after jobs by India's engineers.. They pay well and it is admired...

[pissdoffinohio]

06:24 AM on 02/02/2011

Awsome

[harmonybringer]

05:59 AM on 02/02/2011

More power to them for being the driving force for philanthropy

In Asia and Africa, there shouldn't be much to convince hopefully as they are surrounded by plenty of diseases that have been succesfully eradicated in relatively richer countries.

[tagtron]

05:08 AM on 02/02/2011

Nice idea, considering that Polio was the last disease for which Big Pharma ever found a Cure. (no profit in cures)

[jrb35]

03:06 AM on 02/03/2011

Are you suggesting that private companies should invest hundreds of millions into R&D for drugs that won't give them a return on their investment? I've got an idea, why don't you donate your entire life savings toward the development of drugs that have no hope of making a profit? Or would you rather invest your money somewhere that might give you a healthy return?

[tagtron]

08:34 AM on 02/04/2011

I'm suggesting that they have no interest in _curing_ anything because they will make LESS profit. I mentioned nothing about no return on investment. That's you injecting hyperbole to try and make a point. My point is that profit takes priority over peoples' health and welfare. These companies have no business being traded on the stock market, because their obligation becomes the shareholder only.

[DonMadrid1500]

02:16 AM on 02/02/2011

Good luck with getting any doe ray mi from those folks.

[Last chance]

11:29 PM on 02/01/2011

Interesting choice of words...` chip in `.....

[neetchop]

01:50 PM on 02/01/2011

As a person of Indian ancestry - I think Mr. Gates has good intentions...however, I don't think that he fully understands the Indian mind set...corruption, along with a basic lack of civic sense still plagues India and Indians. Combine that with illiteracy,overpopulation and a caste system that has not exactly disappeared...well - it's overwhelming. .Ambani and the like have gotten wealthy off the backs of the poor - yet Ambani chose to build the world's most expensive home in the middle of Mumbai home to Asia's larges slum...wealth clearly does not = class or compassion. Good luck Mr. Gates - if those obscenely rich folk see abject poverty every day from their golden tower and it still aren't moved to action...not sure what you could say that would help..

[Tindrums]

12:07 AM on 02/01/2011

Problem with polio vaccine was that der was a disinformation campaign against it by Muslims of Uttar Pradesh. They spread the canard that the vaccine is actually to sterilize muslims. The result was renewed infection.
However Muslim Intellectuals and clergy came together to counter the disinformation and it is getting good results.
I repeat funding is not a problem for Polio... Gates is barking up the wrong tree but with good intentions.

[Ergon]

10:12 PM on 01/31/2011

According to the stats shown in the other thread, only 41 children (out of hundreds of millions) were affected by the polio virus in India last year. Now Mr. Gates wants to spend hundreds of millions on his pet cause instead of clean water, sanitation, or aid to the poor.
Hmm.

[maslin]

10:34 PM on 01/31/2011

That's because unlike sanitation problems, which are ongoing, though fixable, it seems based on our experience with smallpox that polio too can be *completely and permanently eradicated*.

That's a big difference.

[Gail L Fitches]

11:20 PM on 01/31/2011

I agree with you, totally. That is what I keep on thinking. He could have helped these people have clean water and santiation, but sterilization and depopulation is his goal. That is why he bought so many shares of Monsanto's Genetically Modified Seed Stocks, because he is not into the health and well being of human beings. His total focus, along with the other depopulationist elites is depopulating the world. He could have done so much good with the billions he is pooring into destory the health of the people of the world. :'(

[dozaa]

12:12 AM on 02/02/2011

You're K-ra-zy. Look what his health fund is doing for Africans with malaria for instance. Depopulationist elites? There are 7 BILLION people on the planet - this is unsustainable for ALL OF US.

[bleubunny]

08:03 PM on 01/31/2011

Bill Gates stole all his money from American business. He should give up all of it.

[jrb35]

04:15 PM on 02/01/2011

He didn't steal anything. Get a clue. He built a successful company and hundreds of millions of consumers bought his products. Now he's giving away his fortune. Try educating yourself before commenting.

[jeanrenoir]

01:21 AM on 02/02/2011

Here, here. Amazing how much paranoid, ignorant, bitter lunacy there is in America today.

[bleubunny]

06:00 AM on 02/11/2011

His business practices were unethical. Most people do know that.

[HonestJohnnis]

12:07 AM on 02/02/2011

Silly... The business he created has worked out great for the company employing me.