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Gates pledges $750m for AIDS fund at Davos
26 January 2012 -- Bill Gates, the chairman of computer software giant Microsoft, has pledged $750m to the troubled global AIDS fund during an annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.
Gates, who spoke at the forum on Thursday, urged governments to continue to support the fund and save lives, despite the current economic downturn.
"These are tough economic times, but that is no excuse for cutting aid to the world's poorest," he said. "The Global Fund is one of the most effective ways we invest our money in every year."
The new commitment is in addition to the $650m that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which Gates founded with his wife, has already contributed since the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria was launched 10 years ago at Davos, according to a statement.
The public-private organisation, which has the backing of celebrities such as rock star Bono, accounts for about one quarter of international financing to fight HIV and AIDS, as well as the majority of funds to fight TB and malaria. But it has been forced to cut back and said last year it would make no new grants or funding until 2014. Read more
