The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Vanity Fair – Africa July 2007 Issue:

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has spent $8 billion on global health, including the fight against AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis in Africa and elsewhere. "I'm optimistic," says Bill, "that people's thinking will evolve on the question of health inequity—that people will finally accept that the death of a child in the developing world is just as tragic and worthy of our attention as the death of a child in the rich world." Melinda adds, "I believe the connection happens when you see people as neighbors and not as strangers. The people of Africa are our neighbors."

BONO: Musician, activist, and V.F.'s first-ever guest editor, Bono is in favor of erecting a very big tent when it comes to the AIDS epidemic. "This is an emergency—normal rules don't apply. There are no good or bad guys," he says. "Do you think an African mother cares if the drugs keeping her child alive are thanks to an iPod or a church plate? Or a Democrat or a Republican? I don't think that mother gives a damn about where that 20-cent pill comes from, so why should we. It can lead to some uncomfortable bedfellows, but sometimes less sleep means you are more awake."

BARACK OBAMA says, “To return filled me with hope—because while significant obstacles remain, I believe we have the chance to build more equitable and just societies so that all people have the chance to control their own destinies."

Philanthropist OPRAH WINFREY has helped fund 28 schools in five African countries as well as personally creating the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, in South Africa, in 2007. She says, "Education is freedom; it's the only way out. Despite the poverty and despair many of these young African children face every day, they have a fierce determination to get an education. I want to help give them the chance they deserve."

MADONNA: "I asked one of the children in Malawi, 'If you've got the world listening to you, if there's one thing you could say to the world, what would you say?" Madonna told Dr. Jim Yong Kim, former director of the World Health Organization's H.I.V./AIDS department. "And the boy said, 'Please just help us forget that we're orphans.'"

ALICIA KEYS won five Grammys with her 2001 debut album, Songs in A Minor. But her world changed even more when she traveled to South Africa for her first concert there, in 2002, and became involved with Keep a Child Alive—a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing anti-retroviral treatment to children and adults with H.I.V./AIDS in Africa. "When you go to Africa, there is a spirit that is very resilient," she says, "and it's a very inspiring thing to be around; it definitely gives me a sense of purpose, something to work for."

MUHAMMAD ALI said, "It is true, Africa has endured famine, drought, and the AIDS epidemic, but what is more important is that the people have endured … with dignity and hope. It is their hope and mine that this rich and magnificent land will one day be restored to the majesty of its ancestors."

STEPHEN LEWIS:"I believe that the breakthrough will come – not a subduing of the pandemic, which will take years, but a momentum around treatment that will unleash a tremendous reservoir of hope," he says. "I am consumed by the need to keep at it because it speaks to keeping people alive. It's as simple as that."