Bill Gates Should Consider Fighting AIDS, Malaria Full Time, New York Times Columnist Says
Although the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is improving the prospect that vaccines will be developed to prevent malaria and AIDS by donating millions of dollars to research, "there are two important areas where [Bill Gates's] effort falls short," New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof writes in his Times column. Kristof says that Gates "waffles on public policy issues" and suggests that if Gates urged President Bush to fully fund his promises on spending for the global AIDS initiative or if he pushed South African President Thabo Mbeki to do more to fight AIDS in his country, Gates "might be able to save many thousands more lives." In addition, Gates's progress in improving public health are overshadowed by "cynicism that all this is just a promotion for Microsoft," Kristof writes, adding that "frankly, the world needs AIDS and malaria vaccines more than it needs a new version of Windows." Therefore, Kristof concludes that Gates should consider "moving full time to his foundation to concentrate on what he does best -- fighting malaria and AIDS" (Kristof, New York Times, 9/24).
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