The Charlotte Observer on Sunday examined how the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is leading a "revival" in investment and interest in global health issues. Over the past five years, the Gates Foundation has given $5.4 billion to global health initiatives -- a "largess" that has made the foundation the "world leader" in vaccine and childhood immunization efforts in the developing world, according to the Observer. The foundation also is "convincing rich and poor countries, international health organizations and drug makers to do more to prevent" diseases that affect developing countries, the Observer reports. "The Gates Foundation introduced a lot of optimism into the field of global health at a time when there was real and growing despair," Ruth Levine of the Center for Global Development said, adding, "We got an explosion of interest and money and work from the Gates Foundation, but the optimism was probably the most important thing. It's the original can-do foundation." Although the Gates Foundation's work has created a "legion of grants recipients saying nicer things about Microsoft's founder [Bill Gates] than many users of his software," the foundation still "draws some complaints these days," according to the Observer. The foundation's "[o]nce famously fast and informal" grant review process now takes about 18 months, and its staff has grown from about 20 people to about 200, the Observer reports (Greve, Charlotte Observer, 5/22).

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