The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is already the world's largest philanthropic organization, with a $30.6 billion endowment, and a track record in targeting the world's three biggest killers -- AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
The Wall Street Journal reports that last year, the Gates Foundation spent $1.36 billion on these purposes --approaching the World Health Organization's budget for 2006, of $1.66 billion.
Now it will have an extra $30.7 billion courtesy Warren Buffett's gift. Health experts agree that Gates’ and Buffett's money will go a long way toward saving the lives of millions of sick people, and pulling others from Asia to Africa out of poverty.
The Los Angeles Times points out that the Gates-Buffett philanthropic partnership, which totals about $60 billion, is 40 times the annual budget of the World Health Organization.
Gates provides $200 million to India for HIV/AIDS prevention and education in India, a figure which dwarfs the Indian government's entire budget for the disease.
Before Buffett made his announcement about his outstanding donation, the challenge was already being issued to governments not to use this new bounty as an excuse to pull back from their responsibilities.
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