Global health and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Abstract for invited chapter in:

Haydon, S., Jung, T. and Russell, S. (eds.) Handbook on Philanthrocapitalism. Edward Elgar. (forthcoming)

comments welcome
 

Global health and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (provisional title)

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (founded 2000) has become an immensely powerful global health actor. Bill Gates, its dominant driver, is one of the richest men on Earth, thanks not only to brilliance as a computer engineer, but also to business practices that have seen him compared with John D Rockefeller, the original “robber baron”. Gates, although claiming to support tax increases for the wealthy, is a consistent opponent of any increase to minimum wages. His zeal for global capitalism undermines global health.

Rockefeller turned to philanthropy to retrieve his reputation. However, Rockefeller, unlike Gates, spared society from the pretence that his was a uniquely insightful intellect. Gates, who in 2014 declared that almost no poor country will remain by 2034, appears to think that he and his foundation have the best answers for global health problems. Although admitting to love flying aboard his private jet, he also presents himself as an expert on climate change “solutions”.

Gates’ insight into these issues is actually superficial. Rather than rely on a public goods approach to improve global public health he has instead purchased support from a coterie of flatterers, including many prominent organisations who ostensibly also wish to improve global health. His foundation has infiltrated and co-opted the World Health Organisation. By awarding lucrative grants, Gates has almost entirely suppressed criticism by prestigious health academics. His foundation is also alleged to have corrupted many journalists, through its selective patronage of key media. Gates’ personal belief seems to be that techno-capitalism will solve all world problems, including poor health in the global South. However, although he, and some of his staff may be well-meaning, their influence is pernicious. While some benefit from the Gates Foundation’s work may flow to reduce health problems in the global South its overall impact is harmful, especially by its support for elites and the intensification of inequality that hypercapitalism drives.

 

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When my paper critical of The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) was published (Butler, 2019) all but one of the people who had read earlier drafts declined to acknowledged. I was not surprised. Years before, an article, to be co-authored with one of the world’s leading experts on insecticide resistance, was abandoned after that co-author withdrew, citing the fear that harm could arise to staff at the institution which he/she then directed. My co-author felt that this was plausible because our draft was implicitly critical of the then fairly recently announced plan by the BMGF to eradicate malaria. A prominent figure in this campaign was Sir Richard Feachem, a global health academic whose original training was as a sanitation engineer (Feachem and Sabot, 2008).

 

to be finished