Gates honored with big condom

Date: Friday, November 15, 2002 3:10 PM

H-1B and JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER

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Bill Gates did the good samaritan act in India. He was even greeted by an 8
foot condom. No mention was made whether the condom was used or new.

Billy invested $100 million dollars to fight AIDS in India. Do you wonder
why?

Stay tuned for my next newsletter.

http://www.centralchronicle.com/20021112/1211002.htm

November 12, 2002
Gates Offers India $100 Million to Fight AIDS
By AMY WALDMAN

EW DELHI, Nov. 11 — Saying India could still ward off a devastating AIDS
epidemic, Bill Gates, the Microsoft chairman, announced here today that the
foundation he and his wife established will give more than $100 million over
10 years to reduce the spread of H.I.V. and AIDS in India.

It is the largest single program focused on a specific country that the Bill
and Melinda Gates Foundation has undertaken since it was founded nearly
three years ago.

India has an estimated four million cases of H.I.V. infection (although many
believe the real number is higher), but the rate of infection is still
relatively low, at about eight-tenths of 1 percent.

"AIDS is in an early stage here," Mr. Gates, whose worth Forbes magazine
recently put at $43 billion, said at a news conference. "There is the
opportunity through the right preventive strategies to keep it that way."

He also said he hoped that successes in India could be applied in other
developing countries. If necessary, he said, more money would be
forthcoming, adding, "The initial commitment of $100 million is simply the
beginning of what we think is appropriate."

With a billion people and an estimated half-million software developers,
India is an increasingly important market for Microsoft, which has been
under pressure from so-called open-source computing. That movement, which
has been having success winning over developers, favors the Linux operating
system — available free or in inexpensive software packages — over
proprietary systems like Microsoft Windows.

In a recent e-mail interview, Mr. Gates spoke of the close personal ties
developed with India through Microsoft. Many Indians have worked at the
Seattle headquarters, and Microsoft has a facility in Bangalore and a large
campus in Hyderabad that includs a software development center.

That relationship, he said, has given him a vivid sense of India's economic,
scientific and technological potential — and how AIDS threatens it. "India
is at once on the cusp of economic greatness and of an epidemic of tragic
proportions," he said.

But even though his four-day trip here mixes business and philanthropy, he
has carefully tried to build walls between the two. There were no Microsoft
activities on his schedule today, and he deflected any suggestions that
philanthropy could be good for business.

The money will be channeled to Indian partners, primarily nongovernmental
organizations. Their main focus will be mobile populations, like truck
drivers, rail workers and migrant laborers, who carry the infection across
state lines.

Mr. Gates and the director of the foundation's H.I.V./AIDS and tuberculosis
programs, Dr. Helene Gayle, said they thought the foundation might have
greater nimbleness than government in linking programs across state lines,
and between different sectors of society, like business or aid groups.

Mr. Gates also said he hoped to erode the stigma around the disease in
India.

While careful to praise the steps the Indian government had taken to combat
the disease's spread, he said, "The recognition we came to, and one I think
the government is also coming to, is that more needs to be done."

Doing more needs more resources, which Mr. Gates has in abundance. His net
wealth is almost as large as the Indian government's $44.3 billion in
revenues last year. He said in the e-mail interview that the size of the
grant was meant to send a "message of hope and solvability."

With all the security and advance planning of a head of state, but with a
considerably more low-key demeanor, Mr. Gates navigated a day that included
a visit to a care center for women and children with H.I.V., a meeting with
the prime minister, a news conference and then roundtables for business
leaders, politicians, nongovernmental organizations and journalists. There
was also a reception held in conjunction with the health minister.

While Mr. Gates stressed that he was embarking on a partnership with the
government, there was a certain ambivalence on the government side toward a
foreigner's bankrolling prevention of an epidemic that officials have
sometimes seemed reluctant to acknowledge.

Both Mr. Gates and Robert Blackwill, the American ambassador, have publicly
cited a report by the United States National Intelligence Council that
predicted that India could have as many as 25 million H.I.V. infections by
2010. The minister of health and family welfare, Shatrughan Sinha, said on
Friday that Mr. Gates and Mr. Blackwill were sowing "panic" by referring to
the report, a comment he repeated tonight.

In truth, no one knows how many cases India has, let alone will have,
because systematic surveillance has been seriously lacking. "Understanding
the scale of epidemiology is somewhat limited in all developing countries,"
Mr. Gates said, diplomatically, today.

He also said Mr. Sinha would head a board supervising the donation. At the
reception Mr. Sinha, in turn, proclaimed, "Mr. Gates, we are with you."

Mr. Gates said Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had expressed
appreciation for the foundation's efforts. Mr. Vajpayee made a significant
speech about AIDS on the country's independence day in 2000, but has not
regularly spoken about it since. Asked if he had encouraged Mr. Vajpayee to
speak out more, Mr. Gates said, "We talked a lot about the need to raise
visibility, to think creatively in that."

The Gates Foundation is also the largest backer of the International AIDS
Vaccine Initiative, which is to begin trials in India next year. The
foundation has invested $100 million in research on microbicides, gels
designed to kill H.I.V., which could give women a way to prevent infection
without relying on men to use condoms.

In an interview, Dr. Gayle spoke of the challenges of devising preventive
measures that could collide with a society's economic and social
compulsions. Much of the disease's spread, for example, can be traced to men
who must go away from home to find work, whether as truck drivers or
laborers, and "you must look for a way where seeking employment doesn't
foster risk," she said.

In addition, as both she and Mr. Gates observed, the spread of AIDS is
linked to the low status of women.

No matter, an upbeat Mr. Gates said today. "You can't just stand by and let
the AIDS epidemic spread because whatever factors are going to make it
hard."

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southasia/view/24635/1/.html

Microsoft's Gates wraps up visit to India

Microsoft Chief Bill Gates has wrapped up his four-day visit to India with a
gift of free immunisation to children living in the southern state of Andra
Pradesh.

The programme will make the hepatitis-B vaccine available to some 500,000
children.

Gates launched the programme in the state's technology capital Hyderabad,
his last stop before he flew home to the United States.

On the first day of his trip, the Microsoft founder pledged US$100 million
to fight AIDS in India.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant is the largest to a single
country.

India has the second largest number of AIDS sufferers in the world.

The Times of India Online
Printed from timesofindia.indiatimes.com > Intl Business

http://money.cnn.com/2002/11/14/news/funny/india_condom.reut/

Gates honored with big condom Indian city pays tribute to Microsoft chairman
for his contributions in fight against AIDS.
November 14, 2002: 6:10 AM EST

HYDERABAD, India (Reuters) - An eight-foot tall condom greeted Microsoft
chairman Bill Gates on Thursday during a visit to an Indian city, a tribute
to mark his generosity in fighting AIDS.

The world's richest man smiled when he saw the giant air-filled condom in
India's rising technology hub of Hyderabad, where his company has opened its
first software development center outside the United States.

The billionaire inaugurated his four-day visit to India on Monday by
announcing $100 million in contributions from his charity, the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation, to spread awareness on AIDS.

it the second largest number in the world after South Africa.

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