Gates, McCaw to Aid African Charities

Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates and cellular phone czar Craig McCaw are expected as early as today to donate tens of millions of dollars to two charities headed by former South African President Nelson Mandela and his wife, Graca Machel, sources said.

The potential donations to the newly formed Nelson Mandela Foundation and to Machel’s Foundation for Community Development would underscore one of the key themes of the South African leader’s three-day visit here: unite Mandela’s considerable moral capital with the financial capital of the Northwest’s growing philanthropies.

On Thursday, the world’s most admired man and the world’s richest man shared the stage at the University of Washington and challenged business, governments and wealthy individuals to help open access to lifesaving vaccines for the poorest children of the world.

“It’s morally imperative that the Western world not turn its back on the millions of children in countries like my own South Africa,” said Mandela, a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation promotes health care, education, peace and conflict resolution in Africa.

Infectious diseases are considered the biggest killers of children and young adults, accounting for more than 13 million deaths per year--one of every two deaths in developing countries, according to the World Health Organization. The international agency regards vaccines as the most important solution to treating and eventually eradicating infectious diseases.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation recently donated $750 million over five years to help vaccinate children in developing countries. The donation was the largest ever by a charity.

Bill Gates, whose net worth is more than $77 billion, called on pharmaceutical companies, private foundations and government entities to work together to make existing vaccines available to all the world’s children and to speed the development of new vaccines that can fight polio, malaria, AIDS, tuberculosis and other deadly diseases.

Mandela and Machel are in Seattle at the invitation of McCaw, chairman of Teledesic, which is building a satellite network for high-speed Internet access.