Gates Foundation

Nonprofit Aravind Eye Care System Wins $1 Million Prize for Preventing and Curing Blindness in India's Poorest Communities

SEATTLE -- In recognition of its groundbreaking work to prevent debilitating blindness and provide affordable, world-class eye care to the poor, the Aravind Eye Care System, based in Tamil Nadu, India, has won the 2008 Gates Award for Global Health. The $1 million Gates Award—the world's largest prize for international health—honors extraordinary efforts to improve health in developing countries.    » read more »

February 29, 2008 -- Dr. Tachi Yamada, president of the foundation's Global Health program, released the following statement today on the passage of the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act (H.R. 5501) by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs:

This bipartisan bill is an important step toward renewing and strengthening the U.S. commitment to fighting AIDS, TB, and malaria—diseases that, together, kill nearly five million people every year.    » read more »

Investment intended to help millions of small farmers lift themselves out of hunger and poverty

January 25, 2008 -- DAVOS, Switzerland -- The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today announced a $306 million package of agricultural development grants designed to boost the yields and incomes of millions of small farmers in Africa and other parts of the developing world so they can lift themselves and their families out of hunger and poverty.    » read more »

EVANSTON, Ill., U.S.A. (Nov. 26, 2007) -- Rotary International today announced a partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that will inject a much-needed US$200 million into the global campaign to eradicate polio, a crippling and sometimes fatal disease that still paralyzes children in parts of Africa, Asia and the Middle East and threatens children everywhere.    » read more »

Fast-track grants initiative to support hundreds of research projects involving scientists around the world

October 9, 2007 -- CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced today that it is committing $100 million over five years to create a new fast-track grants initiative to support innovative global health research. The initiative's goal is to encourage scientists worldwide to explore creative, unorthodox ideas that could lead to major breakthroughs against some of the greatest health challenges facing poor countries.    » read more »

Innovative high schools in New York City and across the country are preparing more underserved students for college and career successContact:

June 29, 2007 -- SEATTLE -- Faced with an alarming national dropout crisis and widening achievement gap, a growing number of educators, school leaders, and policymakers have focused their attention on high schools, replacing failing campuses with more innovative, high-quality options.    » read more »