Gates pours cash into world health drive

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will increase its contribution to a global health initiative by $250m, the Microsoft chairman has announced.

The change means the foundation will more than double the size of its contribution to Grand Challenges in Global Health, bringing its total commitment to $450m.

The initiative, which was founded in 2003 with a Gates Foundation grant, is jointly administered by the Gates organisation and the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health. It focuses on 14 major scientific challenges and the research that is conducted in developing countries.

Gates spoke about the issue while addressing the World Health Assembly in Geneva.

"There is a tragic inequity between the health of people in the developed world and the health of those in the rest of the world," Gates said in a statement. "I am here to talk about how the world, working together, can dramatically reduce this inequity."

In his speech, Gates outlined four priorities.

One priority calls on all governments to increase their efforts and contributions to improving global health - and matching that commitment to the scope of the crisis.

Gates also cited the need to direct more research toward fighting illnesses and diseases in developing countries.

Two other areas of priority, he said, include finding a means to deliver tools that address health issues, especially in developing countries, and creating a market that will prompt companies to invest in medical research for developing countries.

The Gates Foundation, which has an endowment of about $28bn, has been busy with philanthropy in the medical field. Last December, the foundation distributed a $42.5m grant for the study of synthetic biology to three institutions: the University of California, Berkeley; the Institute for OneWorld Health; and upstart Amyris Biotechnologies.

The Gates Foundation has four priorities overall: education, global health, public libraries and support for at-risk families in Washington state and Oregon.

Dawn Kawamoto writes for CNET News.com