The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced in February this year that it would contribute $ 100 million to the fight against COVID-19. More than half of the funds go to the development of a vaccine, as well as efforts to treat and diagnose the disease.
To the initial sum, the couple added another $ 150 million to help combat COVID-19 “in low- and middle-income countries” with vulnerable communities.
The funds of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are, in short, for investment in scientific research so that more efficient tests can be carried out and a vaccine developed as quickly as possible.
In 2015, during a TED Talk, Bill Gates predicted that the world would not be prepared for an outbreak of a highly contagious virus and made a statement that is inescapable today: “we are not prepared for the next epidemic”. Bill Gates even analyzed what would happen if a highly contagious virus, transmitted through the air, such as the Spanish flu of 1918, affected the world.
For Bill Gates, the big key would be preparation – through advances in science and technology. And this preparation, according to Gates, would have to be a global effort that “would make the world a more just, as well as a safer place”.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's investment, since its inception in 2000, has prioritized health care. Of the $ 53.8 billion invested by the foundation over 20 years, $ 39.8 billion has been earmarked for global development and health programs.
The foundation's secret lies precisely in the type of investments it makes. "The goal is not just incremental progress," write Bill and Melinda Gates in their annual letter for 2020. "It is putting all the strength of our efforts and resources behind the big bets that, if successful, will save and improve lives.”. Thus, the foundation seeks opportunities in which less investment can lead to a much greater outcome.
Instead of investing, for example, directly in the distribution of vaccines and other medicines, Melinda and Bill Gates choose to finance scientific research that allows the creation of a vaccine, establishing coalitions with other organizations, and even governments, in a joint response to improve the global health level. They also invest in education and focus on two priority areas: climate change and gender equality.
This is the successful approach of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which can inspire other institutions and donors, for more efficient donations and for a lasting global impact.
Image: © 2009 Kjetil Ree (CC BY-SA 3.0)
