Speaking of Yuan Longping and Tu Youyou, Bill Gates gave a speech in Beijing | China | Bill Gates
After four years, Bill Gates returned to China and delivered a speech in Beijing on June 15th, praising China's innovative achievements. He mentioned Yuan Longping: This Chinese scientist trained over 3000 rice scientists from more than 50 countries, allowing them to bring their experience back to their own countries, enabling billions of people to survive and develop - it's hard to imagine any innovation that could rival it.
Bill Gates is the founder of Microsoft and co chairman and director of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He arrived in China on June 14th, and as soon as the plane landed, it attracted high attention. The next day, at the Global Health Drug Research and Development Center, jointly supported by the Beijing Municipal Government, Tsinghua University, and the Gates Foundation 7 years ago, Bill Gates delivered a special speech titled "Responding to Global Challenges with Innovation.".
Chinese innovators can play an important role in global cooperation
Bill Gates stated that compared to his last visit to China, the world has undergone tremendous changes. Nowadays, many people lack confidence in the future. In the past four years, the world has experienced the COVID-19 epidemic, the intensified impact of climate change, and famine in some regions. It has become an unprecedented urgency to address these challenges. Bill Gates stated that China has achieved great success in reducing poverty and improving public health, and he hopes to see China play a greater role in helping the world, especially Africa, to address challenges.
Bill Gates said that despite facing numerous difficulties, he remains "optimistic" because looking back over the past few decades, it can be seen that remarkable progress has been made in making health equity a top priority worldwide. He gave an example that since 1990, the child mortality rate has significantly decreased to 1/25, equivalent to over 7.5 million children's lives being saved each year. During the same period, the number of deaths among Chinese children decreased by as much as 94%.
He stated that another reason for his optimism is that science and technology have shown unprecedented potential in solving difficult problems. Technological advancements, including artificial intelligence, will bring rapid breakthroughs in areas such as healthcare and education, providing more people with life-saving tools and better development opportunities.
How can we utilize the power of science and innovation to provide "acceleration" for progress? The answer given by Bill Gates is "everyone must participate". In order to solve the challenges faced by humanity and for everyone to live a healthy and productive life in the future, it is necessary to gather expertise from around the world. All sectors of society, including government, academia, business, and charitable organizations, must participate.
The former world's richest man said that Chinese innovators can play an important role in global cooperation. China has valuable successful experiences in health, agriculture, nutrition, and poverty reduction that can be shared. China has also gathered a large number of talents, whether in laboratories, startups, or higher education institutions, many young people are striving to find solutions for the future.
"If it weren't for the Chinese team, this project wouldn't have been successful"
Eliminating malaria globally is an important task of the Gates Foundation. Currently, approximately 250 million people worldwide suffer from serious illnesses due to malaria each year. Bill Gates said that although the vast majority of malaria cases now occur in Africa, this was not the case in the 1950s. At that time, there were at least 30 million malaria cases in China every year, and more than 300000 people died as a result. He emphasized that thanks to significant scientific breakthroughs by Chinese scientists, the number of malaria cases and deaths in China has steadily decreased. The new antimalarial drugs brought by Tu Youyou to the world are still the main drugs for treating malaria worldwide, and she was awarded the Nobel Prize for this.
In 2010, China launched the China Action Plan to Eliminate Malaria. In 2017, China achieved zero local malaria infections for the first time and ultimately obtained a malaria free certification from the World Health Organization in 2021.
"This is a remarkable achievement, but Chinese scientists have not stopped there," Bill Gates said. The Global Health Drug Research and Development Center is carrying out groundbreaking work, such as collaborating with two international organizations, the Malaria Drug Association and the Malaria Drug Accelerator, to develop a preclinical candidate malaria drug that is expected to overcome parasite resistance, cure with just one dose, and prevent infection.
At the same time, many researchers in China are working hard to tackle key issues that affect people's quality of life. Bill Gates said that Yuan Longping's achievements have always deeply attracted him. The Gates Foundation has long supported Chinese scientists in cultivating hybrid rice that can withstand harsh weather conditions. In order to support the popularization of new rice varieties in Africa, they support the collaboration between Chinese and West African rice scientists to cultivate new varieties that are adapted to local conditions. Pilots conducted in some West African countries have shown that local food production can increase by 50%.
"Without the Chinese team and their rich experience and expertise in rice breeding, this project will not succeed. Without the African team and their understanding of local farmers and food systems, this will not work. This cooperation model is worth promoting around the world." Bill Gates introduced that the Gates Foundation is working with Chinese partners to solve many other important issues, such as polio eradication, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of AIDS and tuberculosis, and the development of a new generation of low-cost and sustainable environmental health technologies, looking forward to contributing to promoting global progress in the future.
