The first time I met Molly Melching, the founder of an organization called Tostan, we were driving through the countryside in Senegal on our way to Kolma Peulh, one of more than 1,000 villages in Senegal that no longer practice female genital cutting because of the innovative work Molly and...

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Not too long ago, my daughter asked me to talk to her Model UN class. Call me...

On this International Women's Day, I am optimistic about the future for women and girls. One reason is that no matter where I go, I see them demanding information and opportunities that are key to improving the lives of their families and will ultimately...

Here at the Gates Foundation, we embrace risk.

We do so because testing big ideas is how we find solutions to some of the world's most pressing problems.

I know firsthand that taking these risks can sometimes stir up controversy.

Last year, in

Recently, I've developed a new least favorite piece of jargon. We've rendered the phrase "the art and science of" almost meaningless by using it to describe nearly any endeavor.

But if we were more careful about language we'd see that "art and science" is a nuanced way to think...

In 2000, the United Nations took bold action to address critical global health and development challenges impacting the world's poorest populations. The results were the Millennium Development Goals. By thinking big and collectively holding ourselves accountable for results, the global community has...

Years ago, when our foundation was getting started and Bill and I were starting to learn more about high school education, I had a conversation with a young teacher in Houston, Texas that transformed the way I look at the work we're doing.

He said that when he reflected about...

When we talk with people about the work our foundation does, one question frequently comes up.
"How can I help?"

That's getting easier and more fun with the exciting transformation happening in online giving.

This holiday season, we decided to list several of the charity...

Lately, I have been reflecting on the ingenuity and commitment I witness in the women and girls I meet during my learning trips to the developing world.

That's because today, October 11, 2012, marks the first-ever United Nations International Day of the Girl. And it's about time.

When I...

Today is World Contraception Day. I am celebrating by visiting a cassava farm in Tanzania.

It might seem like a strange way to observe the day, except for this fact: the women who do the majority of the labor on small family farms in developing countries are often...

As we get closer to the London Summit on Family Planning, people often ask me, "Why is family planning so important to you?" The simple answer is that it can mean everything to so many of the women and families I meet. It means the difference between being...

Last week, I gave a TEDxChange talk in Berlin, and the video is now ready for viewing here and at TED.com. My argument is simple:

1. Birth control is an uncontroversial idea (practiced by a billion people) that has unfortunately become controversial.

2. As...

With only a few days to go, I’m eagerly anticipating TEDxChange: The Big Picture and putting the finishing touches on my talk. The TEDx speakers I have watched online this year have certainly set a high bar.

This close to an event, it’s always a little nerve-wracking....

Everywhere I go, people ask me how they can help.

Fighting big issues like hunger and poverty, and working to save women's lives can be overwhelming. Where do you start?

What if we started by thinking about helping one woman give birth in a clean, safe health facility...

After an amazing amount of progress on women's and children's health in 2011, I'm starting off 2012 by heading to Bangladesh. I'll be learning even more about two of the biggest killers of children -- pneumonia and diarrhea. Bangladesh has made incredible progress in recent years, reducing the...

As I mentioned in my blog post last week, many of the tools needed to save lives already exist, but we need to do a better job making sure those tools reach the children who need them most.

On this World Pneumonia Day, I think it is worth...

As the world's population hit 7 billion yesterday, there's been a lot of talk about the incredible advances the global community has made improving the health of the world's poorest people and saving lives, especially when it comes to children. In 1960, about 20 million children died before they turned...

Today I'm excited to welcome some of the world's foremost experts and advocates to Seattle for the foundation's second Malaria Forum. As we head into this exciting day, I can't help but reflect on the tremendous progress we have made in building public support to end malaria since the last...

This weekend, I am traveling to New York City for an occasion I’ve been looking forward to for a long time – NBC’s Teacher Town Hall. It is always a thrill for me to spend time talking to teachers, hearing about their lives, and bringing those stories back to...

Each year, I eagerly await the publication of one number: the number of childhood deaths around the world. That number, which has gone down from 20 million in 1960, to about 12 million in 1990, to less than 8 million last year, makes a powerful statement about the progress the...