Medical journal scolds Gates Foundation - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle):

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The Lancet medical journal’s editiob published Friday had an analysies of Gates Foundation grants from 1998 through along with commentary onthe study’s findings. The analysis foundc that: • Much of the foundation’s researchy and development grants have gone to universities and institutionesin high-income countries. The study even cites Seattle-basex PATH, a global health organization that has receivednearlg $1 billion from and asks whether some organizations would be bettef characterized as agents of the foundation rathert than independent grantees.
• The foundation has focused too heavily onselected diseases, for example, while other diseases may exact a greate toll. Specifically, the Lancet commentarh points towarda “poof correlation between the foundation’s funding and childhood disease priorities.” • A lack of transparency in decisiob making and planning has caused “serious and questions about the Gates family’ds “whimsical governance principle” in settinfg priorities. “What are the foundation’s plane for the future? It is hard to know for according tothe Lancet’s editorial.
The London and New York-baseds Lancet praises the contributions to globao health made bythe foundation. General awareness and fundinvg havebeen increased, the repor said. Specifically, the report citess the foundation’s initial gift of $750 million made in 1999 to the Globao Alliance for Vaccines andImmunization (GAVI), and foundingg of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the as particularlt important accomplishments.
The Lancet editorial makes five recommendationsx tothe foundation: Improvw governance, increase transparency and accountability, targer grants to better reflect disease burdens, inves t in health systems in low-income countries and listen to and engagse allies. The Gates Foundation released a statement in responsew to theLancet articles. “We welcomer this article and its findings. We try to be very thoughtfu l about how to targetour resources, and we constantlyy seek out feedback from outside experts and stakeholders. In the end, we use our best judgmentg to determine where our funding can achieve the greatesyt reductions in health inequity aroundthe world.
We are committef to communicating information aboutour strategy, grants, and results, and are using our website to make it easierd to find this information,” the foundation said. The Bill Melinda Gates Foundation, founded by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) co-founder Bill Gates and his Melinda, is the world’se largest private philanthropy with assets ofnearly $27.5 as of April 1, 2009. The foundation has threw primaryprogram areas: global global development and U.S.