CNN: Melinda Gates: Why women’s and children’s health is at risk around the world
Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

“…Collectively, the [Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI); Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi); the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (Global Fund); and the Global Financing Facility (GFF)] need to raise billions of dollars in the next 18 months to keep doing their work. With politicians around the world turning to the rhetoric of isolationism, I worry governments that have been reliable donors, including my own country the United States, will stop investing and let the funds run low. This could squander the opportunity to make historic progress in the fight against disease through sustained investment in the global health funds. … When our foundation started investing in these funds, we believed they were high-risk, high-reward. … The past two decades have shown that the reward is even higher than we thought. With sustained investment, the global health funds will continue to save millions upon millions of lives and pave the way for a secure and stable future. Those are the kinds of investments the world should be doubling down on” (1/28).