News and blog

I just returned from the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland. More than 2,500 business, civil society, religious, governmental and youth leaders, from "tech pioneers" to "young global leaders" to business tycoons. Bill Gates and Bono dropped by, too many prime ministers to...

A few months ago, our friends at PATH set out on a mission to immunize 20 million people in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger with an affordable new meningitis vaccine, MenAfriVac. Well, we just got word that they pretty much reached that number — they’ve...

They call it "the two drops of life," said Anil Garg. The two drops of a pinkish, transparant liquid that can change a child's life: the vaccine for polio. This month, Anil Garg and 33 other members of a Simi Valley, California, Rotary Club will spend just...

There are three reasons why you should watch this event. For one, it talks about the effectiveness of our global immunization efforts in the fight against polio — because of vaccines, we’ve been able to reduce polio by a whopping 99 percent. Secondly, Bill Gates...

A mass drive to immunise Yemen’s future generations against pneumonia was kick-started yesterday in a move that could save the lives of up to 5,000 Yemeni infants every year, according to UNICEF. The pneumonia vaccine, which is currently being distributed to health facilities across Yemen, protects...

At the foundation, I'm surrounded by a lot of people who take unusual pleasure in statistics. But this statistic should impress everybody: Pneumonia kills more kids than AIDS and malaria...

My third annual letter is coming out soon. One of the major themes of the letter is the miracle of vaccines. Last year, Melinda and I announced that we were working together with partners to make this the Decade of Vaccines, and I wanted to...

The development industry lacks mechanisms which are common in successful complex systems, such as specialisation and exchange, and feedback, which drives out poor performance and scales up success. We are surrounded by complex adaptive systems: animal biology, the internet, ecosystems, competitive markets, and many others. These...