Bill & Melinda - The philanthropes
Melinda and Bill Gates spend a huge amount of their wealth on charity. They also travel across the globe to support the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation work on health and social issues.
This time around, it is no different. During their three-day visit, Bill and Melinda Gates will spend considerable time on charity work in India.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is committed to promoting greater equity in global health and education.
Between 2004 and 2009, the foundation will donate $200 million to support HIV prevention programs in India through its India AIDS Initiative.
Bill and Melinda, have endowed the foundation with more than $27 billion (as of March 2004) to support philanthropic initiatives in the areas of global health and learning, with the hope that in the 21st century, advances in these critical areas will be available for all people.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has committed more than $3.2 billion to organizations working in global health; more than $2 billion to improve learning opportunities, including the Gates Library Initiative to bring computers, Internet Access and training to public libraries in low-income communities in the United States and Canada; more than $477 million to community projects in the Pacific Northwest; and more than $488 million to special projects and annual giving campaigns.
Bill Gates married Melinda French Gates on January 1, 1994. They have three children. Gates is an avid reader and enjoys playing golf and bridge.
Photograph: Melinda Gates of the Bill Gates Foundation greets people during a visit to an HIV-AIDS prevention project in Kolkata. Gates met with several of the city's sex workers in various red-light districts and pledged donations to further HIV-AIDS research in India.
Photograph: DESHAKALYAN CHOWDHURY/AFP/Getty Images
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