Top billionaires Gates, Slim launch health program for poor

[Ed Barrow]

Source: Agence France Presse

The world's top billionaires, Bill Gates and Carlos Slim, will team up with the government of Spain in a 150-million dollar health initiative for poor people in Central America and Mexico, it was announced here Monday.

Funds for the "2015 Meso-American Health Initiative" will be shared equally by the three contributors and will go over the next five years to improve maternal health, nutrition, vaccination, anti-dengue and anti-malaria campaigns in the region.

The initiative was announced here Monday by Gates, Slim, Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Spain's Princess Cristina.

The health initiative will be put to work in Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Panama.



Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gqF4F_UbI_DLuQ_5exL1_E6WwANQ

[BrklynLiberal]

1. yooo-hooo Hey! You rich guys! How about us poor folks here in the good old USA?

[gblady]

2. that's exactly....

where my mind went to.....hey...what about us in our country.

[ellenfl]

6. me, too. wtf? i know slim is mexican but gates? eom

[quakerboy]

7. Curious

How much does it cost to fix up a sick person there vs how much does it cost to fix the equivalent illness here.

[happygoluckytoyou]

3. RELATED STORY arizonians sneaking into mexico for affordable health care services

[BrklynLiberal]

4. lolololol

[drgonzosghost]

5. Not really needed here but...okay....

I've been living here in Costa Rica for about four years now and have had two kids as a "semi-legal" alien (citizenship paper work doesn't really move very fast down here), and have had nothing but the best of experiences. We pay into the "Caja" every month to the tune of about 6,000 colones a month ($12-13 US) and have had better, quicker coverage than when I had Blue Cross and Blue Shield. They DO put a bit more emphasis on natural remedies and cures than I am used to, but I've had to make three runs to the hospital so far and have paid nothing out of pocket and was definitely fixed up.

Nicaragua and El Salvador sure could use it though...

[awoke_in_2003]

8. on edit:

sorry, misread your post the first time.

[Frank Booth]

9. Why can't Bill Gates ever do anything good for the world?

Like market a product that makes people who buy it think they're cool? This philanthropy bullshit is so wasteful.

[boppers]

10. The Nobel prize was created by a man known for blowing people up....

Like Alfred Nobel, Henry Ford, or John Rockefeller, Bill Gates has a entire lifetime of bad karma to make up for.