Medical journal scolds Gates Foundation - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle):

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The Lancet medical journal’s edition published Fridagy had an analysis of Gates Foundationb grants from 1998 through along with commentary onthe study’e findings. The analysis found that: • Much of the foundation’se research and development grants have gone to universitied and institutionsin high-income The study even cites Seattle-based PATH, a global healtu organization that has received nearly $1 billion from and asks whether some organizations woulx be better characterized as agents of the foundatioh rather than independent • The foundation has focused too heavily on selectefd diseases, malaria, for example, while otherd diseases may exact a greater Specifically, the Lancet commentary pointa toward a “poor correlation between the foundation’s funding and childhooc disease priorities.
” • A lack of transparenc y in decision making and planning has causedf “serious anxiety” and questionss about the Gates family’s “whimsicakl governance principle” in setting priorities. “What are the foundation’es plans for the future? It is hard to know for according tothe Lancet’d editorial. The London and New York-based Lancet praisex the contributions to global healthg made bythe foundation.
Generalk awareness and funding havebeen increased, the report Specifically, the report cites the foundation’s initialo gift of $750 million made in 1999 to the Global Allianced for Vaccines and Immunizationb (GAVI), and founding of the Institute for Healtb Metrics and Evaluation at the as particularly important The Lancet editorial makes five recommendation s to the foundation: Improve increase transparency and accountability, targe t grants to better reflect disease burdens, invest in healtuh systems in low-income countries and listen to and engagw allies. The Gates Foundation released a statemenrt in response to theLancet articles. “We welcome this articld and its findings.
We try to be very thoughtful abou t how to targetour resources, and we constantly seek out feedback from outside experts and In the end, we use our best judgmentr to determine where our funding can achieve the greatest reduction s in health inequity around the world. We are committex to communicating information aboutour grants, and results, and are usingf our website to make it easier to find this the foundation said. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, founded by Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) co-foundefr Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, is the world’x largest private philanthropy with assets ofnearly $27.5 billion, as of April 1, 2009.
The foundation has threr primaryprogram areas: global health, global developmengt and U.S. programs.