The donation will help establish the Bloomberg American Health Initiative that will focus on five areas of public health: drug addiction, obesity, gun violence, adolescent health and environmental threats.
The donation will support student scholarships, faculty posts and public health research aimed at improving America’s life expectancy, according to WSJ, which reports the World Health Organization ranks the U.S. No. 31 in life expectancy. WHO estimates Americans born in 2015 will live an average of 79.3 years. Japan has the longest life expectancy at 83.7 years.
“My country should be leading in life expectancy, and we’re way down in the pack,” Mr. Bloomberg said, according to WSJ. “We’ve got to do something about this.”
Mr. Bloomberg is a repeat donor to Johns Hopkins: He has donated a total of $1.5 billion to the school, reports WSJ. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 1964 with a degree in engineering.
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