October 27, 2009 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Washington
Bill and Melinda Gates have started an advocacy campaign to show the success of government foreign-assistance programs, saying that continued support for them could halve the number of child deaths in poor nations by 2025.
While aimed at policymakers, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said the effort may also influence philanthropists and other grant makers as they make hard choices about what causes to support during the recession.
The campaign, which includes television commercials and a Washington event tonight, is a “thank you” to taxpayers and politicians for providing money to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa, antimalarial work, and other programs, the Gateses told The Chronicle and other reporters in an interview.
“As we travel around for the foundation, which we do quite a bit in the developing world, we realize that we see a lot of hope on the ground,” said Ms. Gates. “And yet when you come back to the U.S. and you read the newspaper, you go on the Internet, you’re not hearing about the positive changes that are happening because of these American investments.”
Watch the Webcast below:
Decline in Deaths
The couple said foreign aid is not always spent wisely, but overall it is effective and has helped lead to a dramatic decline in child deaths in the developing world, from 20 million in 1960 to 9 million today.
They said with increased assistance, especially providing better basic health services to newborns and new mothers, that number could drop to 5 million in 15 years.
Federal funds to improve health abroad have increased dramatically, climbing from $1.5-billion in 2001 to $7.7-billion in 2009. While acknowledging that the United States faces a growing budget deficit, Mr. Gates said he hopes the Obama administration and Congress will increase that amount, though he declined to say specifically how much.
“We’re not naming what the increase should be,” he said.
‘Hard-Nosed’ View
When asked why it falls to a foundation to highlight the good work of government, Mr. Gates said his organization brings some “credibility” to the discussion.
“We bring a hard-nosed, business, numerical, and analytical point of view to things, and yet we see here something that’s pretty amazing,” he said.
Added Ms. Gates: “We see that these things are working, and we’re willing to continue to make investments. I think then other people say, Okay, it must be working or people wouldn’t put their own money into it.”
To kick off the campaign, which is known as the Living Proof project, the foundation has invited members of Congress, Obama administration health officials, charity leaders, and the news media to an event at a theater in downtown Washington tonight. The Gateses will appear onstage, giving a 70-minute multimedia presentation about their findings.
The event will be broadcast online. Information is available on the Living Proof Web site.
