When you’re the wife of the richest man in the world, namely Bill Gates KBE, you can do pretty much anything you want to – except, of course, build the world’s third-fastest supercomputer with Apple components. Still, even this limitation leaves Melinda Gates with quite a bit of leeway on how best to contribute to society.
Melinda spends much of her time dealing with the laudable cause of global health issues such as malaria. This week, along with a totally private side trip to see the Dalai Lama, she spent some time in Kolkata, India just chillin’ wit’ her lil’ sisters – the 9000 sex workers of Sonagachhi, a large minority of whom are minors. What she saw made her sad. These women (and girls) are married (if at all) to the poorest men in the world and in contrast to their Western counterparts, are openly accepted by Indian society as they continue to organize and seek further legitimacy.
They’re also seeking to limit AIDS. The rate of HIV infection among prostitutes in Sonagachhi has peaked at 10 percent; the rate ranges from 25 percent to 80 percent in India’s other red-light districts. At least 300,000 Indians were infected with HIV in the past year – about 6 percent of the estimated number of new infections globally. Over 4.5 million people in India are estimated to be infected; in some regions, the HIV infection rates are already as high as 5 to 8 per cent among the general population. For a country with over a billion people – almost a quarter of the planet’s population – these numbers mean the danger level for a bio-apocalypse is red-hot.
Enter Melinda Gates. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
has made its largest commitment ever of $200 million to combating HIV/AIDS in India. “It’s because both Bill and I think there is hope here. There’s a real economic engine that makes it different from Africa,” said Melinda during her visit, looking quite relaxed in a blue work shirt and black trousers. “We hope at the end of the day, we’ll have made a difference. And it will happen in our lifetime.”
You go, girl.