If Bill Gates isn't building an empire through Microsoft, he's saving the world with his significant contributions to medical research. Good examples are the HIV vaccine and new and better drugs for HIV patients.
Gates and his wife, Melinda, who runs the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, recently attended the World Economic Forum held in Davos. They shared some positive news that a vaccine for HIV may be on the way at least 15 years from now. This vaccine will then prevent future infection, drastically reducing cases all around the world, especially in Africa.
Aside from the vaccine, new drugs will also be available. These medications will help infected patients cope with the disease without lifelong treatment. Nigeria, one of the countries with a high rate of HIV and AIDS, has also recently announced in separate news that at least three companies are starting to develop more affordable treatments to give more patients access to medications.
Although Gates was less positive about the ultimate end of AIDS, he believes that medical research can reduce its occurrence by as much as 95%. The same thing goes for malaria. Both of these diseases still don't have any known cure, such as a vaccine. However, GlaxoSmithKline has already filed for approval since last year for what could be the first vaccine against malaria.
In a letter that they give to all supporters of the foundation annually, the philanthropic power couples are also confident that developing nations will experience a much better health care system at a faster rate-quicker than any given point in history.
Bill Gates has also recently hogged the headlines when he drank poop water, comprehensively cleansed and filtered water derived from sewage. A machine known as omni processor uses sewage sludge and convert it into water through many steps including boiling to kill bacteria, turning it into water vapour to remove particulates, then condensing and letting it pass through multiple filters.