Gates Foundation launches campaign to highlight U.S. global health investment successes

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on Thursday announced the launch of the Living Proof Project that aims to highlight how U.S. foreign aid contributes to improving global health, the Associated Press reports. Bill Gates said in a statement, "We want to show Americans that their investments in global health are working" (Pace, 9/24).

The project includes a new Web site, "an advertising campaign in Washington, D.C., that will feature children and adults helped by U.S. global health aid, and a presentation by Bill and Melinda Gates on Oct. 27 in Washington, D.C., that will be 'highlighting opportunities to build on today's global health successes,'" the Puget Sound Business Journal writes (9/24). The Chronicle of Philanthropy's blog, "Government and Politics Watch," reports that the campaign is geared toward "the public and politicians" (Moore, 9/24).

The campaign's message is that millions of "children and adults are surviving and leading more productive lives, 'living proof' that U.S-supported initiatives to fight malaria, AIDS, and other diseases are working," the Seattle Times' blog, "The Business of Giving," reports. Senior program officer at the foundation, Cynthia Lewis, "said [the Gateses were] struck by the disconnect between the optimism and progress they saw on their trips and the pessimism they were hearing about when they came home," the blog reports. Melinda Gates said in a statement, "We think if more Americans learn about progress in global health, they'll be inspired to maintain these investments - even in difficult economic times - so that we can do even more" (Heim, 9/24).