Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Reuters NewMedia - Thursday March 8, 2001
Irwin Arieff
Gates, the world's richest person, and his wife Melinda met Annan for about 50 minutes for initial talks on how the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation could do more against AIDS, foundation spokesman Trevor Neilson told Reuters.
"The foundation will now look at specific ways it could help," he added. Foundation president Patty Stonesifer accompanied the Gates during their U.N. visit.
One possibility for the future was a new gift to be unveiled during the coming special session on AIDS of the 189-nation U.N. General Assembly, to be held in New York June 25-27, Neilson said.
Gates later on Thursday was to be honored by the United Negro College Fund for his donation of $1 billion to finance higher education for 20,000 minority students.
Gates' foundation, which has $21 billion in assets, has placed special emphasis on childhood vaccination and on the search for an AIDS vaccine in particular.
Last year it awarded more than $1.2 billion to health causes, Neilson said. The foundation recently pledged $100 million for an international AIDS vaccine initiative, on top of the $26 million it had previously given to the project.
Over the last two years, the foundation has given over $236 million to the United Nations and related agencies, according to U.N. officials.
Gates told reporters as he entered U.N. headquarters only that he was there to discuss world health.
"END AIDS FOR ALL TIME"
"Bill made clear to the secretary-general that AIDS is one of the foundation's top issues and we are committed to helping the U.N. end AIDS for all time," Neilson said. "Bill and Melinda are passionate about this and are hopeful the world can put a plan in place."
The computer software magnate is not the only wealthy American to be funneling money into the United Nations.
Ted Turner, vice chairman of AOL Time Warner Inc., last year gave $34 million to the world body to help make up for dues owed by the United States. That was on top of a gift of $1 billion in securities to his United Nations Foundation, which is to dole out $100 million a year over 10 years to aid U.N. programs including anti-AIDS efforts.
According to UNAIDS, the United Nations' anti-AIDS umbrella group, some 36.1 million people around the world were infected with HIV -- the virus that causes AIDS -- as of the end of last year. About 5.3 million people were newly infected during the year 2000 while 3 million died from the disease that year, according to UNAIDS.
Africa, where AIDS is today the No. 1 cause of death, remains the hardest hit region, home to 70 percent of the world's HIV-infected adults and 80 percent of its infected children.
Annan, in a recent report to the U.N. Security Council, said drug companies and governments needed to do more to bring down the cost of AIDS therapies so that patients in poor nations can gain access to treatment.
But the foundation worries that putting the focus on AIDS drugs "will distract attention from prevention programs, which have been shown to work," Neilson said, adding that the foundation considers vaccine research to be prevention.
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