Gupta: There was an article about concerns of corruption and fraud with regard to the Global Fund. Do you expect just to have a certain amount of corruption and fraud -- just say you know what, to do the work that we do, we have to expect and accept a certain amount of that?
Gates: Well the Global Fund does a fantastic job. [It has seen about 3% or 4% of the money it spends not be applied properly.] And they had a few grantees where the percentage was high enough that they cut them off and switched away from the government to another form of delivery. Because you don't want patients to die. You just have to find someone that does the honest delivery. So yes, you are going to have some. It's fine.
This is saving lives for well less than 1% of what you would spend in the rich world. And if you think lives are created equal -- this at least says well, are they at least worth 1%. And that's ignoring the sickness you avoid.
There was a survey recently that showed half the kids in Africa, because of infectious disease, have IQs of 80 or lower. That's cerebral malaria, that's malnutrition because their brain doesn't fully develop. And if you want them to be stable and on their own, you have got to make sure that terrible sickness, that permanently hurts them their entire life, is not there.
By and large, it is the one health intervention that can get to everyone. In fact, it is so simple, people often forget what a big deal this is. The 2 million people that would have died from smallpox now don't think, "Wow, I'm alive today because of vaccinations," but that's the case.
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