NEW DELHI: He gave away over $28.8 billion of his personal wealth to philanthropy in order to fight neglected diseases and reduce extreme poverty. But did the software czar and one of the world’s richest men know his calling early on?
“I knew that I was going to give away the wealth I was making through Microsoft. But I didn’t know how, back then,” said Bill Gates. “But if you ask me whether I knew that one day, I would be crossing the Kosi river to get to Khagaria in Bihar, I did not. This is a grand new adventure,” he added.
Having just returned from Bihar’s polio belt “with the least amount of drinking water and most amount of sun”, Gates was unusually chatty and humorous.
What was interesting to see was how he gloated over Bihar.
“It’s amazing how the state’s immunisation rates have suddenly shot up from 11% to 60%. I never expected it. There is definitely some lessons of best practices to be learnt from here,” he said.
“In 1960, 20 million children used to die. Last year, 9 million died. What do you think caused the dip even though 40% more children are born now every day? Vaccination. Better nutrition is the second factor but vaccination against new diseases is by far the most effective intervention,” Gates said. “India hasn’t introduced a single new vaccine since 1985. India should seriously consider using the pentavelent vaccine in its immunisation programmes,” he added.
So does he chat about his experiences from such visits with his family and children over a dinner table? “Melinda and I talk a lot about our travels. Next year, we plan to take our kids to Africa. It’s, however, hard to convey powerful experiences like when I met women self-help groups in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
One gets drawn into their energy by simply listening to their experiences,” Gates, who met PM Manmohan Singh and health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, said.
Narrating a personal story, Gates, whose foundation has given $1 billion to India alone for health projects, said, “Once, I showed my daughter a video about polio and what we do. Watching, she asked me what happened to the crippled girl in the film and how did we help her? I didn’t know. I realised we talk about numbers and maps and eradication targets. But what about the real people? It is interesting to see the world through the eyes of children.”
So how much did recession hit the foundation’s work? “Because of the recession, the value of our assets went down. We never decreased investment but we couldn’t increase our investments. Recession caused rich governments to have huge budget deficits,” he said.