Davos: Gates Foundation's $10 Billion Vaccines Program May Save 8 Million Lives
Bill and Melinda Gates today announced a $10 billion initiative to develop vaccines that could save eight million lives in the developing world. This calculates to an investment of roughly $1,250 per life saved. What a remarkably low number. The U.S. government spent some $100 billion bailing out AIG -- the monetary equivalent of 80 million lives saved (assuming that Gates's calculations are correct and extrapolating to a bigger population).
Another stunning and counterintuitive finding is that extending the life expectancy of people in the developing world does not lead to a population explosion. On the contrary, a longer life expectancy has led to smaller family sizes in most developing countries that have experienced increases in life expectancy. The net result has been a significant decrease in the rate of population growth.
So, not only does Gates's investment -- relatively modest on a global scale -- promise to save the lives of children but also address the problem of population growth. Why does it take a private foundation to get this done when governments have far greater resources?