While accepting a fellowship named for Stephen Hawking, PhD, at Cambridge University on Oct. 7, Bill Gates shared his prediction that investing in scientific innovation will vastly improve global health.
Within two decades, he said, advanced healthcare technology will put an end to malnutrition, malaria and the HIV epidemic across the globe. Most of the necessary technologies to do so are already in development: next-generation probiotic pills, gene editing and highly potent HIV treatments and vaccines, respectively.
"Innovation is shrinking the gap between perfect and not perfect health for everyone. And the smaller it gets, the better the world becomes," Mr. Gates said. "It can be daunting to look at the health inequities that still exist in the world. But if we continue to fund innovation, we can close those gaps."
At this "critical moment," he concluded, world leaders will need to make the decision to invest in innovation to improve the health of all people. He explained, "One of the other questions Stephen Hawking asked in his last book was, 'How do we shape the future?' Investing in global health is one of the best ways we can do that. The future is ours to shape — if we choose to make innovation a priority."
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