News outlets report on recent comments from Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, about public health in Africa and polio in Nigeria.

Mail & Guardian: Africa’s growth path: Reduce diseases, Bill Gates cautions
“Unless Africa dramatically decreases its rates of malnutrition and premature mortality, it will not achieve the productivity levels necessary to compete in the global marketplace, according to U.S. philanthropist and Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates. He was speaking at the Addis Ababa University on Wednesday, where he received an honorary doctorate…” (Malan, 7/24).

Reuters: Nigeria may have no polio cases next year, says Bill Gates
“Nigeria could cut the number of polio cases to zero next year and be declared free of the disease in 2018 even though a national eradication campaign has had to contend with an insurgency in the north, Bill Gates told Reuters…” (Blair, 7/24).