New Delhi: Bill gates, founder of Microsoft and one of the richest people in the world now has some astonishing news to share recently. He will give away almost his entire $168 billion fortune by 2045 and close down the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He would like to contribute to the end of great challenges like, poverty, diseases, global warming, but not before he dies.
The Gates Foundation began in 2000. By now, it has already consumed over 100 Billion dollars trying to make the world a better place. This includes distribution of vaccines, improvement of schools and supporting farmers. Bill Gates will now donate another $200 billion in the next two decades. The annual budget of the foundation will go from $6 billion to $9 billion. Most of this fund will be used for preventing diseases like polio, malaria, and measles and improving education and save mothers’ and children’s lives especially in underdeveloped countries.
Gates says he does not want to be remembered as a “died rich” man. It was motivated by a classic essay. The Gospel of Wealth by Andrew Carnegie, that wealthy people are supposed to make a contribution to society. In fact he was also inspired by his parents and his very good friend Warren buffett who promised to give away 99% of his own fortune.
On his blog, Gates wrote that among other uses of AI, the foundation is planning to use AI in healthcare and invest in clean energy such as nuclear energy from his company TerraPower. He also wrote about trying new vaccines for diseases like TB and inventing gene therapy for HIV. Gender equality is another area of interest like in most poor nations.
Gates understands that charities cannot duplicate what governments do. He’s concerned some nations are reducing their budgets for global health, but he still has hope things will improve. Speaking to The New York Times in an interview, he said, “Things will be better in the next 20 years.” He’s hopeful that the technology in play here especially the AI will help to speed things up.
When Gates Foundation closes in 2045 it will be the end of a 45-year process. Some of the notable achievements to date include the reduction of child deaths (below 5 years) from 12 million in 1990 and 5 million in 2019; Guinea worm eradication as well as the promotion of education and financial resources in places such as Africa and South Asia. In India, the foundation has helped in Polio fight, healthcare improvement, and providing farmers with climate resilient crop.
