Melinda Gates shares thoughts on U.S. global health efforts

During a recent interview with The Hill's "Blog Briefing Room," Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, praised former President George W. Bush for the enactment of PEPFAR and commended the Obama administration's commitment to global health issues and for "being very open minded [and] saying we don't have to go back and reinvent the wheel."

"Gates said that Congress and the administration should continue to provide large amounts of funding for global health, noting that it has increased from $1.5 billion in 2001 to $8 billion last year. But she urged lawmakers to focus more on efforts to reduce maternal and child deaths," according to The Hill.

The Gateses will be in Washington, D.C. next week to as part of a campaign to highlight successful U.S. efforts to improve global health. "There's proof on the ground of what's going on in terms of success in global health," she told The Hill (Alarkon, 10/21).