News Outlets Continue To Report On Gates’s Annual Letter, Couple’s Discussion Of Foreign Aid Importance In Interviews

Business Insider: Bill Gates is worried about the risk Trump poses to global aid efforts
“Microsoft cofounder turned billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates is worried about what President Donald Trump means for foreign aid efforts. On Tuesday, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation published their annual letter for 2017, outlining the work the organization is doing to improve ‘global health’…” (Price, 2/14).

Devex: What drives the Gates Foundation’s global health work? Data.
” … ‘The best investment any of us can ever make is in the lives of others,’ they wrote. ‘The returns are tremendous.’ But they said they want to make sure [Warren Buffett’s $30 billion] investment continues to pay higher returns, which means the foundation will have to save more lives in the future than it has in the past. The letter revealed the scope of the data-driven approach the foundation takes in its work on global health in order to try and fulfill that aim…” (Cheney, 2/15).

Forbes: Bill Gates Just Wrote A Valentine’s Love Letter To Warren Buffett
“…To commemorate [Warren Buffett’s $30 billion donation], Gates and his wife Melinda [Tuesday] released their annual letter, which outlines the priorities of their eponymous foundation, the world’s largest and most influential. They did so in the form of a missive addressed directly to Buffett. The Valentine’s Day release may be coincidental, but it’s fitting — it reads like a love letter…” (Lane, 2/14).

POLITICO: The Playbook Interview: Bill Gates
“…[T]he world’s richest man, who now focuses on global health and development through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has a newfound appreciation for the need to aggressively engage with American and foreign governments as he tries to fight disease and eradicate inequality around the world. ‘I’ve had to learn a lot about working with governments in this foundation role because we’re partnered together,’ Gates said in an expansive recent Playbook Interview at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation offices in Seattle, touching on everything from the progress the nonprofit has made over the past 10 years on children’s health to the potential impact of Donald Trump’s presidency on their work…” (Palmer, 2/14).

Wall Street Journal: Gates Foundation Asks U.S. and Other Nations to Not Give Up on Foreign Aid
“Bill and Melinda Gates have a message to the U.S. and other nations that have recently signaled they will prioritize domestic needs: Don’t give up on foreign aid. … ‘We have new leadership in the U.S., so we need to engage with them. We have new leadership in the U.K., so we need to engage with them,’ Mr. Gates said in an interview. While the administration of President Donald Trump has yet to declare its stance on foreign health aid, Mr. and Mrs. Gates say they are concerned. ‘Of course I’m worried,’ Mr. Gates said. ‘What I’m hoping is that it remains enough of a priority that it at least stays as strong as it is’…” (McKay, 2/14).

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