ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Thursday conferred the Award of‘Hilal-e-Pakistan’ on Co-Chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates FoundationBill Gates in recognition of his support for poverty alleviation and healthcare.
A special investiture ceremony to this effect was held in Islamabad whichwas attended by federal ministers, senior officials and members ofdiplomatic corps.
Earlier, Bill Gates called on Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad.
Born in 1955 in Seattle Washington, Bill Gates is a co-founder of MicrosoftCorporation, the world’s largest personal-computer software company.
Currently, he co-chairs the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with MelindaFrench Gates, supporting a wide range of public health projects, grantingaid to fight transmissible diseases such AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, aswell as widespread vaccine programs to eradicate polio.
The Foundation is playing a critical role for the elimination of polio inPakistan as well as supporting the financial system through variousinterventions.
It focuses on eliminating global inequities and increasing opportunitiesfor those in need through programs addressing global agricultural andeconomic development, medical research and public health initiatives indeveloping countries.
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In 1975, Bill Gates started Microsoft with a vision of “a computer on everydesktop and in every home” which has now been realized in many parts of theworld.
In 2010, Bill and Melinda challenged the global health community to declarethis the Decade of Vaccines. They pledged $10 billion over the next 10years to help research, develop, and deliver vaccines for the world’spoorest countries.
In 2017, the Foundation committed $300 million to helping farmers in Africaand Asia cope with climate change.
In 2020, the Foundation committed about $1.75 billion to support the globalresponse to COVID-19.
