Bill Gates: Health, agriculture key to Africa’s development

Friday, July 25, 2014

Health and agriculture development are key if African countries are to overcome poverty and grow, US software billionaire Bill Gates said Thursday, as he received an honourary degree in Ethiopia.

“By getting things right in these two areas, the gains can be exceptional,” Gates said, calling health and agriculture “enabling factors for all the other things that need to be done.”

But Gates warned that progress could be undone by instability, pointing to northern Nigeria, where attacks by Boko Haram extremists have derailed efforts to eradicate polio.

“This Boko Haram disruption is the one real cloud on the horizon, where it means there are groups of children that we’re not able to get to,” he told reporters after receiving his award.

Gates — the world’s richest man — and his wife are the co-founders of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which tackles health and poverty in Africa.

Source: Global Post (link opens in a new window)

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Environment, Health Care
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Base of the Pyramid, nutrition, public health