Bill Gates wants to rid the world of polio within six years

[JMH]

Microsoft co-founder and Chairman Bill Gates has worked full time for his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for several years now. Gates, the world second wealthiest man with a net worth of $63.4 billion, has pledged to give 95 percent of his wealth to the foundation to help fund its two main efforts; fighting diseases in third world countries and also to improve education in the US.

In Gates' annual letter from the foundation that was published today, he writes about how his organization has been working on these issues in the past year. The biggest effort that the foundation currently has is to rid the world of the polio disease. Gates writes, "Polio eradication is a top priority for the foundation, a primary focus for me, and a powerful example of the importance of accurate measurement."

Bill Gates wants to rid the world of polio within six years

 

[Cayden]

I'm sorry but isn't Polio an afterthought in this day and age? Should we not be more concerned about Malaria, Tuberculosis, dirty water, e. Coli, famine, and carbon dioxide emissions? My vote is 'yes'. These are top concerns IMHO, Polio is not.

 

[niemiro]

I'm sorry but isn't Polio an afterthought in this day and age? Should we not be more concerned about Malaria, Tuberculosis, dirty water, e. Coli, famine, and carbon dioxide emissions? My vote is 'yes'. These are top concerns IMHO, Polio is not.

However, it would be terrible to see it make a global comeback because we can't make the effort to see it through to the end. Better to eradicate it entirely, once and for all, IMO.

 

[Cayden]

I'm sorry but isn't Polio an afterthought in this day and age? Should we not be more concerned about Malaria, Tuberculosis, dirty water, e. Coli, famine, and carbon dioxide emissions? My vote is 'yes'. These are top concerns IMHO, Polio is not.

However, it would be terrible to see it make a global comeback because we can't make the effort to see it through to the end. Better to eradicate it entirely, once and for all, IMO.

Not possible, would require human genetic modification to be immune by design.

 

[niemiro]

I'm sorry but isn't Polio an afterthought in this day and age? Should we not be more concerned about Malaria, Tuberculosis, dirty water, e. Coli, famine, and carbon dioxide emissions? My vote is 'yes'. These are top concerns IMHO, Polio is not.

However, it would be terrible to see it make a global comeback because we can't make the effort to see it through to the end. Better to eradicate it entirely, once and for all, IMO.

Not possible, would require human genetic modification to be immune by design.

I don't see why it isn't possible, and it doesn't require genetic modification, or even to be "immune by design".

Surely it can be done in the same way as Smallpox: Eradication of infectious diseases - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Eradication is the reduction of an infectious disease's prevalence in the global host population to zero"

We just need to vaccinate enough people such that the few remainders who do catch it don't pass it on to anyone else, as they are all vaccinated. Then the disease dies out in that little area. Repeat across the globe, and suddenly the disease dies out everywhere and can't come back (assuming it was done properly initially). Well, that is the basic idea, anyway.

So, now we have it nailed down in a small number of cases in just a few countries, we just need to eradicate it completely so that it can't come back.

 

[Corrine]

I saw the effects of polio on a classmate. He wore braces and used crutches like the little girl in the image below. People inflicted with polio in poor regions do not get the benefit of braces and crutches. The virus is contagious so spreads quickly in areas where people have not been vaccinated.

 

[Cayden]

I saw the effects of polio on a classmate. He wore braces and used crutches like the little girl in the image below. People inflicted with polio in poor regions do not get the benefit of braces and crutches. The virus is contagious so spreads quickly in areas where people have not been vaccinated.

Yeah but have you seen the effects of global warming, famine, malaria etc? A few hundred polio victims =/= tens of millions of people affected by much more devastating, widespread issues.

 

[Corrine]

Going back to the original quote:

Gates, the world second wealthiest man with a net worth of $63.4 billion, has pledged to give 95 percent of his wealth to the foundation to help fund its two main efforts; fighting diseases in third world countries and also to improve education in the US.

Since it is his money to pledge, it is his choice where it is used.

 

[Cayden]

I don't believe in that nonsense. Money spent for the good of mankind is mankind's business!

 

[Corrine]

I happen to believe that if a person wishes to donate personal money and time to a cause, the cause they choose they choose is their business. So, I guess we have a difference of opinion. That's ok. Everyone is entitled. :)

 

[Will]

Unless Polio is eradicated whilst we have the chance, it's easily possible that it will re-emerge in the future as a major problem.

It's a valid point about malaria and other issues, but even if he donated all his money to malaria research it would continue to be an issue. Polio isn't the only thing they support, and Bill Gates has somehow managed to persuade many of the world's richest people to donate huge sums of money to many causes.

You'll never please everyone, or be able to support every cause. Would you prefer they donated nothing instead?