Bill Gates in India

[Guest guest]

Gates Offers India $100 Million to Fight AIDS

By AMY WALDMAN

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/12/international/asia/12GATE.html

NEW 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. "

The gift from Mr. Gates, whose wealth ranks him as the world's richest

man, comes as programmers around the world are being lured to join the

so-called open-source computing movement. It 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 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. "

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