Bill Gates on the Dead Aid Meme

Bill Gates responds to the idea that ‘aid is bad’ in this interview with Newsweek. Although, he doesn’t reference Dambisa Moyo or or her book DEAD AID directly, some of his comments do make arguments against the meme (of aid doing more harm than good) while defending the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation approach to global development:

Of the countries that donors give aid to, there’s a number, like Brazil, Mexico, and Thailand, that have graduated, and what we’re left with is a very tough group. But health aid is probably the least controversial because it brings down population growth…A vaccine is not that attractive to a dictator. Even in the toughest countries–Congo, Somalia–vaccinations work. If you’re getting into building roads, you may have to stay away.

It speaks to our value of equality. It speaks to our belief that preserving the environment is important, by making sure there is not severe overpopulation. The tools that we have now are better than ever. Think of children’s lives saved, going from the 20 million that died per year in the 1960s to the fewer than 9 million today, to the goal of fewer than 5 million deaths within 15 years. That’s a pretty appealing story when you’re talking about a quarter of a percent of the federal budget.

Read the full interview…