Bill Gates' $100 million commitment to help fight coronavirus

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced an immediate commitment of up to $100 million for coronavirus relief on Wednesday, February 5. The commitment is a ten-fold increase from the foundation’s initial $10 million pledge announced last month, Forbes reports.

Bill Gates is one of a handful of billionaires who have donated so far to the coronavirus outbreak, which has triggered a global health emergency, sent markets tumbling, and killed nearly 500 and counting. He joins —among others— Citadel’s Ken Griffin, Alibaba founder Jack Ma, and LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault in opening up their wallets. For more on the donations from these other billionaires, see this Forbes article.

Of the Gates Foundation’s promised $100 million in funding, up to $20 million will go towards agencies such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) to aid front-line detection, containment, and treatment, according to the announcement.

Another $20 million will help enhance protections for at-risk populations in Africa and South Asia, regions that the foundation says tend to get most hard hit by epidemics. Funds will help public health authorities strengthen emergency centers, implement effective disease surveillance efforts and improve treatment capacity.

The remaining $60 million will go towards the longer-term development of vaccines, treatments and diagnostics for sustainable control and prevention to keep the virus from spreading. Global partners such as the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and various other public and private sector research labs will receive additional support.