The world’s richest couple, Bill and Melinda Gates, give half their £34 billion fortune to help the poor
THE world’s richest couple have congratulated Britons on their generosity to the world’s poor – and have said “keep on giving”.
Melinda and Bill Gates held private talks with Prime Minister David Cameron at 10 Downing Street this week to launch their Living Proof programme to show how global aid makes a difference.
“We should do more of it,” says Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft.
The couple set up a foundation in 1994 and are spending £21 billion to tackle global poverty.
Melinda says: “When we find a way to save millions of lives, to give hundreds of millions of families the ability to make a healthy, productive future, we should give everything we’ve got.”
She adds: “British people continue to show generosity in times of need – every year on Red Nose Day and recently in response to Haiti and the Pakistan floods.”
Aid worker Debrework Zewdie says that smart aid helps the people of developing countries to help themselves.
“One day soon we hope it will help us end the need for aid,” she said, “but today and tomorrow this approach is making it possible to save 4,000 lives daily in communities across Africa and the developing world.”