Once\u00a0again, Bill Gates is putting his money where his mouth is \u2014\u00a0but this time, the funds are coming from his own bank account.<\/p>\n
The Microsoft co-founder announced Nov. 13 he\u2019s personally donating $100 million toward fighting Alzheimer\u2019s disease. The gift does not involve efforts through his foundation, which has primarily focused on dire global health issues facing the developing world, such as HIV\/AIDS and malaria.<\/p>\n
In fact, Gates\u2019 gift is his first major one toward fighting a noncommunicable disease, CNN reported.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a huge problem, a growing problem, and the scale of the tragedy \u2014 even for the people who stay alive \u2014 is very high,\u201d Gates explained to Reuters. The billionaire noted in a blog post that Alzheimer\u2019s disease is the only top 10 cause of death in the U.S. without any significant treatment.<\/p>\n
Right now, there\u2019s no cure; physicians can only ease symptoms as the condition worsens.<\/p>\n
Alzheimer\u2019s \u2014\u00a0a progressive form of dementia that destroys memory and other mental functions \u2014 affects over 5 million people in the U.S.\u00a0according to the Alzheimer\u2019s Association. That figure could reach 16 million by 2050.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very tough,\u201d Gates said of the disease\u2019s emotional toll on patients and their families. \u201cIt\u2019s like a gradual death\u00a0in terms of the person that you knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
The $100 million dollar donation will be separated into two commitments: $50 million will go toward start-up ventures conducting Alzheimer\u2019s research\u00a0while another\u00a0$50 million will go toward the Dementia Discovery Fund, a venture capital program that unites government and private-sector efforts that focus on medical breakthroughs.<\/p>\n
In a video shared on his blog\u00a0(see\u00a0below)\u00a0Gates pinpoints a few critical factors that will play roles in the coming decades. Continuing research is vital, of course. Nailing down a diagnostic that can show the disease\u2019s progression \u2014 like a simple blood test \u2014\u00a0could be a game-changer as well. Researchers must also try lots of theories on their road to new discoveries, make drug trial processes faster, and continue to collect data and make it accessible in a common form, Gates said.<\/p>\n
Gates is\u00a0hopeful positive change is on the horizon though.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have much better tools, we have more scientists,\u201d he explained. \u201cWe need a lot of ideas here, to give us the highest chance that will lead to an Alzheimer\u2019s cure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read more about Gates\u2019 fight against Alzheimer\u2019s disease on his blog.<\/p>\n
Share photo by Jamie McCarthy\/Getty Images for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Once\u00a0again, Bill Gates is putting his money where his mouth is \u2014\u00a0but this time, the funds are coming from his own bank account. The Microsoft co-founder announced Nov. 13 he\u2019s personally donating $100 million toward fighting Alzheimer\u2019s disease. The gift does not involve efforts through his foundation, which has primarily focused on dire global health…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1434\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}