On May 17 in Geneva’s United Nations assembly hall, however, Bill Gates addressed the existence of diseases such as polio, HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, meningitis, rotavirus, and pneumonia and proposed the solution of increasing access to vaccines.
“I had built my life around the idea that innovation is for everyone. When I began to understand how billions of people are deprived of its benefits, it made me angry. That's when I decided that my personal wealth would be used to help confront that inequity,” Gates said of his determination to alleviate the global poor of preventable diseases.
He proceeded to discuss the important role vaccines have to play in disease eradication. “They can be inexpensive, they are easy to deliver, and they are proven to protect children lifelong from disease,” Gates said.
He confidently termed this the “Decade of Vaccines,” calling on world leaders to make improving access to vaccines a top priority. This calls for further investment he explained, but this investment will pay off. Through it, countless lives will be saved and economies will thrive.
“As we free billions of people from the relentless burden of sickness and death [we] will unleash more human potential than ever before” Gates said.
Gates called for at least 90 percent coverage at the country level and 80 percent coverage at the district level. Global actors must do what it takes, he said, to reach the most vulnerable children in order to effectively achieve zero cases.
Therein will the world realize that global health is essential to global prosperity.
“It might be the most difficult thing we’ve ever done, but it will also be the most important,” Gates said.
For more information or to read the full speech visit www.who.int/en/
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